


Digimon Advent

by Barghestmon



Category: Digimon - All Media Types
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-08-11
Updated: 2012-10-06
Packaged: 2017-11-11 22:09:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 105,690
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/483400
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Barghestmon/pseuds/Barghestmon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The story begins, as Joey and Manimon introduce Amy to her new life-partner, Laelapmon, before getting roped into a dangerous game with wild digimon...</p>
          </blockquote>





	1. Episode 1. Advent of a New Age

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The story begins, as Joey and Manimon introduce Amy to her new life-partner, Laelapmon, before getting roped into a dangerous game with wild digimon...

# Episode 1. Advent of a New Age

* * *

The subway was dark, and empty. This particular line was down for maintenance due to the latest series of tremors shaking through it.

Silently, a large beast, a monster resembling some form of giant, shaggy black dog, lowered himself down, pressing one of his long, black ears, against the floor. He'd been keeping track of these tremors that had been plaguing the city above for over a week or so, now. Or rather, tracking the tremors themselves.

Faint sounds beneath him indicated that not all was as quiet as it seemed, in this dark and empty place. The rumbling was directly under him, somewhere, and getting steadily louder every minute.

He had to be very careful, for what was coming could easily cause the tunnel to collapse around him; and what was coming was another monster, though, one not as concerned with the wellbeing of others as he was. Turning, the black dog began to run back some, to give fair space, when the rumblings were close enough to be felt, and needing to listen was no longer a wise move.

Suddenly, the ground seemed to explode apart, throwing out rocks and debris, the train tracks completely smashed through and shattered. A loud screech pierced through the darkened subway, as several red glowing eyes shone through the gloom, the swirling clouds of dust slowly settling to reveal a giant mass of wriggling parasitic worm, an open maw lined with sharp teeth it had been eating through dirt and rock with. The black dog knew it wouldn't be long before the humans above sent for help, they would have surely felt the tremors by now, and hopefully, the trouble-maker causing them would be removed by that point.

The large worm-like figure ahead finished heaving the rest of its long, twisting segmented body out of the ground, turning its large head at the black dog, all of its red eyes fixing themselves on its adversary.

"I think you've run enough, Centimon." the black dog creature suddenly spoke, in a low voice, as his own red eyes began to glow, claws flexing slightly in readiness for battle. "It's time this ended."

The large worm's hiss almost made it seem like it too agreed that it had delayed their fighting long enough, and raised itself until it's head almost rubbed against the ceiling, getting itself into position- though, voices down the end of the tunnel indicated that the humans above had reacted much faster in calling in emergency forces.

"dammit..." the big black dog hissed, as this gave Centimon enough time to reconsider on its decision to fight, and hurriedly burst back down the tunnel it had made, sealing part of it behind it as it went.

"Over there, I saw something!" yelled a voice, as the light from a torch flashed brightly down the tunnel, slightly uncovering the dog's position in the darkness. Turning back, the black dog made a run for it, his large paws seeming to make no noise as he ran, gritting his teeth in frustration.

Once again, his target had escaped.

* * *

"I do hope you'll like it here, Amy."

Lugging in several suitcases, two figures entered into a light, airy apartment, the furnishings having not seen much use for several years, so everything was covered in layers of dust.

The young man of the pair set down some of the suitcases, then removed his glasses to polish them.

"If you have any issues, I live in the Blue Skies apartments, which are just opposite the courtyard from here. It's a shame this place isn't a bit nearer..."

"It's fine, Joey." said the girl, Amy, who had been putting her suitcase of belongings over by the sofa, before wandering over to the small balcony to look out at the cityscape view. "Dad bought this place years ago for when he was doing research here, going back a few years... though he did warn me that the apartment had received a few upgrades, as with all the others..."

"Ah, yes... I suppose I could show you that 'upgrade', then. Would you like that?" Joey asked, heading over to a strange panel on the wall.

"Sure..." Amy replied, heading over to look at it. It was some form of computer, built into the wall, with a small terminal, with various ports for devices to link-up, a keyboard, and a series of buttons with symbols. Joey booted it up, only to be met with an error message.

'ERROR: Digital Assistant not found.'

"Oops... I guess you and your dad haven't registered an assistant, yet." Joey sighed, "I won't be able to set this up unless we get you one."

"Is it really that important?" She asked, looking up at him carefully.

"Yeah. This runs your entire home, basically, your computer network, air conditioning and heating, gas, electric, water, home security... It does everything. Because this is the city that seems to never have time to rest, all the homes here are installed with these things, takes the stress off of running a home." A smile seemed to be forming across his face, as he added, "and more over, the assistants are awesome."

Reaching into his pocket, he produced a PDA-like device, with a small fold-away keyboard, touch screen and camera built into it. A white rabbit creature greeted him on the screen. The colours of the PDA seemed to correspond with the colours of the rabbit.

"Yo, Joey, what can I do for ya?"

"Manimon, why don't you say hello to Amy?" Joey said, holding the PDA up so she could get a better look.

"You've got yourself a cute friend there, Joey... is it really alright if I talk to her? I wouldn't want you to get jealous." the rabbit grinned, looking up at Joey from the screen, before turning his gaze back on to Amy. "Well, hey there, Amy! I'm Manimon, I hope I'll be seeing more of you soon! Joey never really lets me have much of a social life, y'know. He's a boring git, really"

Amy couldn't help but let out a few giggles there at Manimon's cheekiness.

"Did you program him to say that, Joey?" she asked, looking surprised at Manimon's reaction to this question.

"Program? Sister, I'm a free-thinking guy, if Joey programmed me, I'd be spewing out machine code or reciting random lines from his sci-fi shows!" Manimon huffed, folding his paws across his fluffy chest.

"Hahaha, alright Manimon, calm down." Joey laughed, rubbing his finger against the screen. Manimon rubbed his face affectionately against where Joey's finger was pressing. "Your assistant, when you get it, is very real, Amy. Manimon's emotions and intelligence, even if a little simple, are very real things."

"HEY! I am NOT simple! I am a complex and interesting guy! Infact, if you want my opinion, I'd say I'm-"

However, Joey didn't seem to want to know Manimon's opinion and simply hit the mute button, putting his device into his pocket.

"How much do these devices cost?" Amy asked, suddenly a little worried because she would be living on a budget with a weekly allowance coming through from her dad, and this would mean no crazy spending on expensive things, even if this whole assistant-thing did seem pretty important.

"Well, don't worry about that for now, let's just head off out and get you sorted" Joey suggested "before Manimon figures out how to override the mute settings..."

* * *

They'd had to catch a train there, but finally, they'd arrived at the right place.

Amy looked up at the shiny white building ahead, it was a fairly large computer store called "Guardian Supplies", and it seemed fairly packed inside, people of all ages wandering around.

All manner of gadgets and gizmos were inside, even a display robot that a lot of kids were cooing and fawning over.

Joey headed over to a store clerk and seemed to say something, pulling out some form of ID badge, though Amy couldn't really get a clear look. The clerk nodded and beckoned Amy to come over. Her curiosity continued to grow, giving Joey an inquisitive look as she approached.

"What did you say to him, I wonder?" she asked, as they began walking.

"Hahaha, did your father not tell you about my job? I work at Arch Angel, the company behind all this technology. I'm getting an employee discount on a new PDA for you, so it's at a very reduced price. Don't worry, you can thank me later."

The clerk lead them into a room with people of all ages sitting at various terminals with PDAs linked up to the machines. Amy looked at some of these as she passed; a little boy sitting at one received one of these "assistants", though it looked nothing like Manimon, Joey's personal one. Looking from one screen to another, all of the creatures on the screens were unique to their owners, each with a distinctive personality and various quirks, just like their human owners. Amy had at first doubted Joey's claim that these were 'real' beings, but this was certainly enough to make even her feel uncertain.

"take a seat here, ma'am, and follow the onscreen instructions." said the clerk, before leaving to serve another customer.

"Amy? I'll just be off to one side, you might like a little privacy for this. You're going to need to answer a few questions, the survey answers tailor your assistant to your needs and how you answer, alright?" he said, patting her shoulder gently. "Trust me, this will be worth it."

Amy watched as Joey backed off and headed over to sit in a seating area nearby, pulling out his own PDA again. She could faintly hear Manimon's voice over the faint chattering of the nearby people, as he yelled in frustration for getting muted earlier. Although she liked Manimon, inwardly, Amy did hope her assistant would be a little more agreeable, or at least, didn't use an outdoor voice.

Turning back to the terminal, she hit the enter key when prompted to begin, and put on the supplied headphones.

A short introduction played, that informed her what the survey was for. Her partner would be assigned based on her answers, and various forms of 'scans' the machine would make on her.

A computerized female voice filled the headphones in its monotonous way, and began to ask her to type out answers to various questions. Amy wasn't sure what to make of some of them, but she answered honestly.

"What do you look for in a friend?"

This question completely threw her off, but she answered honestly.

"I guess... someone I can rely on for support, when things get tough... someone honest, and reliable.."

It then went down a different route, asking her what the main duties she would be using her assistant for, and since she was pretty useless with computers, she decided it's main use would be system security for the computer, and home security for her apartment. The voice then proceeded to read out a long list of features and tasks her assistant would be able to perform.

After some time, she began to grow anxious. What would her assistant be like? She felt herself getting excited and nervous, all at once. However, she was quickly snapped out of these thoughts as the voice spoke again.

"Your egg has been received on the terminal. Please place your hand against the screen to leave a digital imprint on it, and hatch it."

Amy seemed a little surprised that they put in something that seemed a little out of place. Egg? Hatch? Why was this so important? Shaking her head, she looked up at the screen, as a pixellated egg began to form and render before her. It was white, with a blue zigzag bottom and a blue diamond mark on top.

"..." Amy opened her mouth to say something, but found no words would form. She caught Joey looking over from the side, why was this so nervewracking? Looking at the egg was making her heart beat quicken, and she couldn't explain it.

Slowly, she reached out and pressed her hand against the egg. Something jolted through her, and it at first felt like maybe she'd been given static shock from the screen, but it hadn't hurt- a warmth had seem to spread through her entire body and exit out through her hand, a white "pulse" spreading through the egg, which began to crack and hatch.

In a burst of light and glowing particles, something appeared on the screen, curled up asleep, a small white dog-like creature, with the patterns that had been on the egg seeming to correlate with the patterns and markings on it's face, tail and long, soft-looking ears.

"Now," the voice said, after a moment's silence. "Wake up your digital partner."

* * *

"He...llo...?"

Something disturbed the silent white world, this bright dream-like haze in the mind of the newly born assistant. Some strange, new and pleasant sound, rather faint, but there, seeming to call her forward from the emptiness.

"Can... you hear me...?"

The white dog-like figure shifted slightly, responding to the voice, this wonderful voice that seemed to give her the nicest of feelings, just hearing it. Opening her eyes slowly, the little dog-creature took a look at the world for the first time from this strange digital chamber that had been her birthplace.

A girl, looking through some kind of window, was staring back at her, with concerned blue eyes, long blonde hair done up in a ponytail. Standing up for the first time, the white dog's tail began to wag... just looking at this girl made her feel very happy, very... safe.

"Hello..." she sighed sleepily to the girl, rubbing her eyes a little. "I heard a voice, calling to me... it was you, wasn't it?"

Amy nodded back, suddenly feeling shy, and feeling rather silly for feeling that way. "Yes... it was me." She couldn't seem to take her eyes off of her new partner, her chest feeling a little tighter all of a sudden.

"Mmh..." her assistant yawned, giving a stretch, "I'm so glad... I feel like I was dreaming of this day, for a long time..." Standing up and giving a little shake down, she suddenly felt very awake, very alive. She couldn't place her paw on it, but she felt as if, somewhere, she had been dreaming of the girl before her, for a long time now. And quite suddenly, all this information seemed to suddenly enter her head, who she is, what she was, where she was... everything.

"my name is Laelapmon," the creature suddenly said, as it introduced itself "Please, what's your name?"

"Laelapmon..." Amy repeated, getting use to the name the creature had seemingly assigned itself, "I'm Amy, Amy Hughes"

"Amy... I think... if it's really OK..." Laelapmon seemed to grow rather shy, herself, glancing away a little, "I'd love to come home now... home with you, that is..."

Amy suddenly remembered what she was supposed to do next, fumbling with her PDA and nearly dropping it multiple times in her nervousness and excitement.

"Oh, I nearly forgot!" An icon had flashed up on the PDA informing her that it was ready to 'receive assistant from terminal'. "Laelapmon, I'm just going to put you on my PDA, alright?" Pressing the button on her touchscreen, she initiated the download sequence, which showed the icon representing the terminal, with a red wire linking to the icon of the PDA, and a small sprite showing Laelapmon travelling down the wire and arriving onto the PDA with a little beep to signify she'd arrived safely.

Amy was suddenly aware of having someone standing over her, and nearly jumped off of her seat in fright, where she hadn't expected Joey to be standing right behind her.

"J-Joey!" she squeaked, steadying herself after almost falling off the chair.

"She's very cute, she looks like she's a good match for you, Amy." Joey grinned, helping her up properly. "She'll need a little rest to get used to, you know, suddenly existing and all, but she'll be a good addition to your life, I think."

Amy didn't really want to say anything, but speaking with Laelapmon had felt almost like she was speaking to an old friend, someone important to her life. She was a little confused, but it certainly hadn't felt bad... after the recent events that had lead to her coming to New Tokyo, this had felt rather nice. Amy turned to Joey, about to suggest they go home, when she noticed him giving her PDA a look that seemed to suggest he was hiding something.

"What? what's wrong?" she asked, holding the PDA a little tighter.

"Oh... nothing." smiling, he turned on his heel and looked over at the exit door. "It's been a long day for you, what with the plane and so on. I suppose I'd better get you back home." Without saying any more, he walked off, still smiling away to whatever it was he was thinking of. Amy followed, wondering what it was. She didn't have to wait too long.

"Amy..." he spoke up as they took a detour back towards the station from some alleys down the side of shops. "...if you had the chance, would you like it if Laelapmon was real?"

"Real?" she started, giving him a strange look. "Back at home, you said Manimon was very real, real emotions and intelligence... I feel Laelapmon is the same... is she not real?"

"Of course she's real, her existance is real, but what I mean is... do you wish that she was real-real, as in, right here and now, with you? Physically here before you, real."

Amy averted her gaze as she felt her cheeks suddenly grow very hot at this question. As a kid, she'd always believed in things like fairies and monsters and mythological creatures, she'd even had an invisible friend when she'd been -really- young, and she'd always wished they were real. Whilst she'd never quite grown out of loving fairies and creatures, she'd stopped wishing once she'd grown old enough to tell the difference between fantasy and day dreaming, and that no matter how hard she'd wished for these things to be real, they simply never would be... meeting Laelapmon had brought that back. Yes, she wished Laelapmon was physically here, real, and with her, but she wasn't sure how to tell this to Joey. He might just be teasing her, anyway, she thought.

But Laelapmon was giving her this deep-set feeling of longing, almost as if she had found something that had been missing for such a long time, and she'd come along at such a difficult point in Amy's life, too... speaking, even briefly, earlier, had taken the edge off of the sadness and worry in her heart that had been plaguing her for quite some time. If Laelapmon could be real... if a miracle happened and she was really real... Then it would be the happiest she'd ever been in a long time. It felt as if she and Laelapmon were being drawn together, like this meeting had been supposed to happen.

Joey didn't need to hear her voice to know that the answer was 'yes', he could see it in her face.

"My grandfather worked with Arch Angel for many years, enough to know the truth about these assistants... actually, they're not even that- they're called-"

"Digimon." interrupted Manimon suddenly from the inside of Joey's pocket. "Short for Digital Monsters."

"Yes. And they come from another place, too... the digital world." Joey's expression was a serious one, and he spoke straight-faced as he said this, even Manimon, when he produced the PDA from his pocket, was completely serious, all the sarcasm and jokeyness from his voice gone.

"I... this is a game, surely, you're having me on-" Amy said, the feeling of anticipation having come back with avengeance.

"This is no game, Amy..." Joey murmured, suddenly taking a few steps back. "...let me show you. They're real."

Holding his PDA out, he spoke out in a clear voice: "Digi-Realize!"

His PDA suddenly seemed to burst with light, the entire screen glowing, and the surroundings getting brighter and brighter, until Amy had to shield her eyes with her arm, rooted to the spot with shock and confusion. When the light faded, and her eyes recovered from the brightness, she looked back over at Joey... only, he wasn't alone.

Manimon was standing in what had previously been an empty space, every bit as real as they were, right there. Amy stumbled forward, too awestruck to be able to find her voice... she reached her shaking hand out, and placed it on top of Manimon's head, running it gently down his face and onto his chest. He was soft, furry and warm... truly real.

"That tickles!" Manimon laughed, squirming a little sensitively from her touch, his ears twitching. "Are you okay, Amy?" He asked, looking concerned.

the look Amy gave them both made it clear that she eagerly wanted to see Laelapmon in the flesh, too. Joey nodded, and took her hand, holding her PDA with her.

"It's a secret only Arch Angel employees are supposed to know about right now. But if you want to see her... all you have to do is activate the function by saying the code, Digi-Realize. It will only respond to your voice, Amy, because she's your partner. Do you understand?"

Amy nodded, and stood up, taking a few steps back. Her mouth had suddenly gone dry, and her legs like jelly. This was really going to happen...

"D-Digi... Digi-Realize!" she called out, holding the PDA out.

The device vibrated violently as light burst from it, filling the alleyway with it's brightness, and when it faded, sure enough, right there... Laelapmon was there, real as real could be. The PDA's colours had changed from the default silver into white and blue, matching Laelapmon's colours. Something very special had happened.

"Amy!" Laelapmon barked, her ears lifting a little in surprise, "what happened?"

"Laelapmon!" Amy cried, her eyes suddenly filling up with tears. The girl who never gave up believing, suddenly handed a 'miracle'. She knelt down, wrapping her arms around Laelapmon and holding onto her tight, tears spilling down her face, that she couldn't explain, but it felt like an emptyness she'd been feeling inside for the longest time was slowly being filled. She could feel Laelapmon's paws holding her shoulders, and her little face pressing into her shoulder.

Manimon placed his paws on his hips and looked up at Joey.

"It reminds me of the first time we met, you know, Joe." he murmured quietly, not wanting to disturb the other pair, "made me feel like I'd found my best friend, even if ya are a bit of a kook!"

Joey smiled and patted Manimon's head, "it eased a lot of worry I felt at the time. Digimon are really mysterious... it's like partners are drawn together. Kind of like destiny. I think we were supposed to meet."

Laelapmon peered over her shoulder at Joey, her tail wagging slightly in agreement.

"It felt like I was dreaming of Amy for as long as I can remember... like someday, she would come for me, and then she did..." Laelapmon looked from Joey to Manimon, "Did you dream of your partner, Manimon?"

"Who, muggins here? Yeah... it felt more like a nightmare, seein' his cheeky face haunt my dreams, but, in the end, he was the reason I was born so... I guess he ain't too bad." Manimon grinned, before having his ear tweaked by Joey "Ouch!"

"Hahaha, you're a cheeky little guy, Manimon. You cried too when you were born, I'll never forget it. I think a lot of people would, meeting their special friend like that." Joey grinned, watching all the white fur on Manimon's face steadily turn bright red.

"M-Men don't cry! Shut up! Y-You're embarrassing me infront of the girls!" Manimon spluttered, looking very embarrassed, before Laelapmon padded over and stood on her hind legs to see even with him.

"I don't see any shame in crying, Mr. Manimon." she said softly, patting her paw against his nose, "I think real men don't care if they're seen crying."

"She got you there, Manimon," said Joey, positively beaming at the little rabbit getting further embarrassed. "and you ARE a real man, aren't you?"

"y-yeah! of c-course I am! geez... you guys have to stop ganging up on me, this ain't fair!" he huffed, turning his nose up to one side with his arms folded in frustration.

"yes, let's leave poor Manimon alone," said Amy, who'd been wiping her eyes, "wouldn't want to make a grown man cry again."

Manimon's jaw almost dropped clean off of his face, "oh no, not you, too, Aimes!"

The other three laughed a little at Manimon, until Joey looked at his watch. "It's getting late, now. We should probably head home."

"Yeah..." Amy said, looking down at Laelapmon. She knew Joey had a job and so wouldn't be available all the time, and hadn't been looking forward to living alone... Laelapmon being there was a reassurance, boosting her confidence. She looked down at the PDA, which she'd not been too focused on since Laelapmon had been brought out into reality.

"Joey, our PDAs changed, why is that?" she asked. It now had several new menus on the screen, things like statistics, form data, encyclopedia, and tracker. "These menus weren't there before, either..."

"Your PDA has become a D-Drive. This isn't something Arch Angel programmed in, it goes beyond their technology right now... as does making the digimon real. A D-Drive is a digivice, or rather, a digital device. When a tamer and their digimon realize their bond, the d-drive becomes a very important tool." Joey said, coming over and inspecting Amy's D-Drive. Laelapmon and Manimon were peering up at it with curiosity, beside their human companions.

"The statistics screen will show you Laelapmon's stats and condition, what sort of health she's in, and has it's own seperate tracker, so you'll be able to find her if you get seperated."

Amy felt a knot suddenly forming in her stomach. Health, seperation... it dawned on her then that even if these beings came from a digital world, to talk like this, would mean they could be hurt or worse... she didn't want to think about this just now.

"Form data... I don't know what this menu is for. It won't even open, for me, it just keeps saying 'No Data Available'. I guess it's still locked out, or something... the encyclopedia is to store information on other digimon you and Laelapmon come across. Here, hold it up to Manimon, and press scan."

Amy did as Joey instructed, holding the D-Drive up and pressing on "scan". The screen suddenly showed a render of Manimon slowly rotating to let her see him in a 3d perspective, and his stats started to load up.

_[MANIMON]_

_Level - Rookie_

_Attribute - Vaccine_

_Type - Personified Moon_

_Family - Nature Spirits_

_Attacks - Moon Fire, Dazzle_

"It might be a little confusing I guess, but it'll make sense with time." Joey said, when a tremor suddenly started up beneath their feet.

"Damn! Those are still happening?" Manimon commented, after it passed.

"Tremors? How is that even possible? Isn't this city on a raised island platform?" Amy asked, holding onto Laelapmon, the tremors having startled the little white dog.

"Yes... and this is another reason why I wanted you to get yourself a partner, Amy." Joey said, his voice suddenly serious. "You can probably guess what I'm going to tell you... an earthquake up here would be impossible, so what do you think is causing the tremors?"

"...oh... you don't mean..." Amy began, giving Laelapmon a concerned squeeze

"yes... it's a Digimon. I don't have time to explain the whole thing right now, but I need to sort this out. " he replied, sliding his glasses back up his nose, before looking down at Manimon. "Are you ready for your field work, Manimon? This could be messy."

"I'm ready as I'll ever be, Joey. Let's not waste any more time lolly-gagging around here, we've got to see our little trouble-maker brought to justice!" said Manimon, flexing himself and giving a few stretches in readiness.

"Mr. Joey... Mr. Manimon..." Laelapmon piped up, walking forward towards them. "I want to come too... I want to help."

"No," Joey began, about to refuse, "It's too dangerous, you could get hurt-"

"Joey... as much as I'm worried about Laelapmon getting hurt... I don't think you should do this alone... at the least, let us come, incase things get bad... it's better than going in alone, right?"

Joey stared at Amy, whose expression made it very clear she wasn't going to have it any other way.

"I know... me and Laelapmon don't know what to expect, but if we're supposed to do this, we have to see for ourselves what the threat is... I don't like the idea of pushing all this pressure on Laelapmon to keep me safe... if I know what we're dealing with, I can make sure I never put us in a bad situation... please, we need to do this, Joey." there was a fire in her eyes Joey hadn't expected to see before.

All her life, Amy had been sheltered or discouraged from trying things others saw might be too dangerous or difficult for her, and now, with Laelapmon, she wanted to be bold, and reach forward.

For Laelapmon, she had a desire to protect Amy. She needed to know she was capable of doing so... Joey and Manimon would be there, so if she got put at a disadvantage on her first fight, she trusted in them to help, just as she hoped they would trust her to help if it was them in danger. And this is why the pair needed to go, too... what if this thing WAS too strong, even for Joey and Manimon? At least this way, they had extra numbers, and a good chance of bailing the other out if things got, as Joey said, 'messy'.

"...alright. But let me and Manimon start first, let you see how things are, and if you're still confident you can do this, you two, then, and only then, should you have a shot. Don't overshoot yourselves, this is something you've never done before, and Laelapmon hasn't adjusted very long, after all..." Joey commented, still concerned, though managing a smile. "This shouldn't be that bad, though, me and Manimon have done plenty of training at the HQ... things should be in our favour."

The little group began to run, following their trackers, which Joey explained picked up on other digimon, and like a radar, would lead them to their targets. Briefly, Joey noticed on his tracker, for a split second, a second dot flickered. He knew this was no blip or glitch... rather than worry the others, he decided to keep his theory to himself; that blip had to be a second Digimon, for sure, and it, too, just for that brief moment, had been tracking the digimon they were following.

* * *

Bounding from roof top to roof top, almost seeming to glide across each gap like he was soaring, the big black dog digimon continued to travel. There was another station coming up, this one being one that had been closed off due to track maintenance. He knew, where he had been tracking the worm for a long time now, that it would go from subway to subway in an attempt to find a good place to begin nesting itself, ideally any place where 'prey' would be plentiful... thankfully, the black dog had driven it away from all the active lines, before anything too dire could happen.

This would be good luck, if Centimon did appear as predicted at this station coming up, it meant he could go all out on it without fear of humans coming along and endangering themselves, and giving him more work to do.

Just as he reached the station, he stopped himself; in the empty street below, he caught site of them. Two humans, a young man, and girl, with... two digimon, in the rookie stage... heading right for the station. The black dog digimon narrowed his eyes, a look of concern showing in his face.

Did they not realize the danger of going down there? Jumping down from building to building, until he reached ground level, he padded in after them, in silence. He refused to let them become the first casualties to Centimon.


	2. Episode 2. The parasite, Centimon!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The tamers and their digimon take on a digimon causing quakes, which shouldn't be happening on a sky island, and run into a mysterious black dog...

# Episode 2. The parasite, Centimon

* * *

The lights in the station did not brighten the place up as much as the tamers had hoped. Some of the unused tunnels leading to other platforms that were out of service had no lighting at all.  
Amy peered down at Laelapmon. Her partner was sticking close to her the whole time, a little nervous, but otherwise looking protective and alert.

"There's a terminal coming up, we might be able to download a subway map onto our D-Drives, it should allow us to get a better idea of where that digimon is." Joey stated as they headed down a flight of stairs.

Amy wanted to say something to break the silence that had fallen over the group, but it seemed like besides the obvious tension in the air, everyone was bracing themselves for the inevitable encounter.  
A few times, Amy swore it felt like there was a soft shuffling sound down some of the tunnels, but put it down to mice scurrying about... and whilst there had been one or two mice rush past, the shuffling noise was not the same sound as the little scabbling of feet.

"There's the terminal... we must be at the Hub." Joey said, head over to the terminal and booting it up. Several options presented themselves that the average traveller would be interested in, such as time table, weather, time, news... things like that. But Joey was only interested in the map, which he brought up. "This shouldn't take more than a few seconds to transfer onto our D-Drives. We won't need to hook up with cables for this, since the D-Drive has a wireless function..."

Amy held up her D-Drive, the light from the screen providing better lighting than the dim lights in the hub. The map finished downloading in no time, just as Joey said.  
Just as she was about to ask what should they do next, another tremor hit, this one rumbling close enough to make everyone feel very unsteady. Amy felt her stomach knot up in worry when the hub's lights suddenly cut out.

"Damn, it must have taken out the hub's electricity lines..." Joey muttered, after the tremors ceased. "Is everyone alright?"

"I'm fine..." said Amy quietly, though she didn't feel it. Laelapmon pressed herself against Amy's side, her chin resting on Amy's shoulder. She could feel Amy's nervousness, and was trying to give her a reassuring canine hug.

"Amy... I won't let anything bad happen..." Laelapmon said softly, rubbing her little nose against Amy's cheek.

"I know you won't, Laelapmon..." Amy replied, feeling bad that she'd let herself, even briefly, feel anxious... she was with the others. She had to have more faith in the group.

"Joey..." Manimon murmured, standing stock still. "Something isn't right..."

"What's wrong, Manimon?" Joey started up, before Manimon held up a paw indicating that the group should be quiet.

"There's... someone else down here... they're really close..." Manimon warned, keeping his voice low.

Amy and Laelapmon, as quietly as they could came and stood over with the boys. The hub was a circular room, with multiple tunnels; whatever was supposedly joining them could come at any angle.

"I didn't want to say anything..." Joey suddenly spoke, as the sound of footsteps in the distance became noticeable. "Something's been following us since before we entered, at first, I wasn't too sure, I thought it might have been nothing... but my tracker briefly picked up another digital lifeform..."

Amy's mouth suddenly felt very dry. Shielding her D-Drive's screen in a vain attempt to hide the light from exposing their position, she stared down at the screen and felt her blood run cold.  
A second dot had appeared on the screen... and it was heading right for them.

"Don't panic... don't panic..." Joey whispered, addressing the group as a whole, "But we're going to have to split up... we need to run."

"Split up?" Amy asked, her anxiety increasing seemingly tenfold.

"We haven't got time to argue about this, any minute now, it'll be here-" Joey started, before getting cut off.

The tunnel they had just come down suddenly showed a large beastly figure running straight for them, it's eyes blazing a bloody shade of red, with something on it's head that resembled a skull.  
The group felt as if Death itself had been given a form, and this form was hunting them down.

"RUN!" Yelled Manimon, and in a mad scramble, everyone dispersed.

Amy didn't stop to look back as she ran, Laelapmon keeping up but hanging back behind her protectively, even though her own nerves were getting shot to hell and back again.  
She couldn't hear Joey or Manimon any more, and began to panic, her heart racing.

"Oh god, Laelapmon..." Amy cried, her legs becoming unsteady from nerves and fear and worry. "I... we shouldn't have run... what if it got Joey and Manimon...? What if it went after them...?"

"Amy..." Laelapmon called up, picking up speed now herself, "Amy... let's stop..."

Coming up to a split in the path between two stations, stations 4 and 5, Amy dropped to her knees.

"Amy... let's look at the tracker..." Laelapmon advised in a soft voice.

"Oh Laelapmon... I feel like such an idiot..." Amy felt terrible that in her haste, she'd forgotten to use the tracker. "I'm terrible at this..."

"No you're not, Amy..." Laelapmon said sadly, nuzzling her face against her tamer, "We didn't know this was going to happen... all of this only happened just today, even I'm scared... but as long as we're together, Amy... I'm not going to be scared... if he shows up, I'm going to give it my all to keep you safe."

"Laelapmon..." Amy murmured, hugging into Laelapmon tightly, "I'm sorry I'm so useless... I'll try to stop freaking out and worrying so much..."

"It's alright, Amy... I know you only worry, because you care about us... and that's not a bad thing..." Laelapmon said, resting her chin on Amy's lap and giving her a reassuring look.

However, their moment of respite only lasted a short while. Seeming to materialize out of the darkness, the black dog digimon, who seemed even bigger and more intimidating in these tunnels, appeared. It was too late to run away... they were trapped.

 

* * *

"I think we made it..." Manimon sighed, as he leaned up against the wall for support, panting from all the running.

"This is not good... Amy and Laelapmon are out of range, and that monster's dot had randomly vanished again shortly after we all ran from the Hub..." Joey said, gritting his teeth in frustration. This was not going to plan, and now he felt responsible for leaving Amy and Laelapmon in danger.  
"This was a mistake... we're going back, Manimon. I've got to find them."

"Wait, Joey..." Manimon said, still gasping for breath where he wasn't use to running as hard as he had been. "What if the other digimon is still there? It looked so strong..."

"Regardless if it's still hanging about, we left them behind... why on earth did I suggest we split up? I... I had been betting on it coming after us. If it had been after us, surely, it would have showed up by now... so if it's not here, then it went after Amy and Laelapmon." Joey rubbed at his temples where he could feel his head pounding from stress, anxiety and frustration. "This is all my fault..."

"Joey... don't beat yourself up... they wanted to come and help us, and besides, Laelapmon will keep Amy safe, I'm sure of it. Just as you know I'll keep you safe... so stop worrying, alright? This ain't like you, Joe." Manimon said, straightening himself up. "If you still want to go back and check, then I'm game."

"Thanks, Manimon..." Joey sighed, managing to get himself back on track. "I only hope nothing bad happened to them-"

Suddenly, the biggest and loudest of tremors ripped through station 3, causing everything to shake and shudder about. The ceiling of the tunnel began to collapse, and Joey was forced to run for his life to avoid the ceiling coming down and nearly crushing him.

As he turned back, he realized the tunnel had been so heavily clogged with debris that it had cut him off from Manimon.

"MANIMON!" Joey yelled, rushing back after the shaking had stopped "MANIMON, PLEASE ANSWER ME!"

He began to pull and dig through the wreckage, but the whole pile was so unsteady that more threatened to come tumbling down, and he was forced to stop.

"Manimon..." Joey called out, this time a little weaker, as he felt his already tight throat tightening further to the point he felt choked.

"I'm... I'm alright, Joey..." Manimon's voice sounded from beyond the rubble, followed by few coughs from the dust which was still swirling around him. "But I don't know if I'll be alright for much longer..."

"Manimon! What's happened?" Joey called out, a horrible sinking feeling taking hold of him.

"Well... about that, Joey..." Manimon said, in a grim tone of voice. "I'm... not exactly alone, on my end, anymore... I have bad company..."

Pressed against the wall near to the now sealed off tunnel, Manimon stared up numbly into the gaping maw of Centimon, who had steadily been closing in like a cat cornering a small mouse the entire time.

 

* * *

"Don't come any closer!" Laelapmon barked up, her whole body tensed up defensively, where she now stood infront of Amy like a small shield, her tamer's only protection.

The big black dog stared down at Laelapmon with it's intense, red-hot stare.

"And what if I did?" was simply his response. "You would fight me, at your level?"

"I... I would try... if it means keeping Amy safe!" Laelapmon growled, every inch of her being bracing herself ready to fight.

"What do you want from us?" Amy asked weakly, feeling scared. She wanted so hard just to run away, but she made a promise, and promise or no promise, she would not leave Laelapmon behind.

"What do I want? For a start, I want you both to calm down." the big black dog digimon stated, before suddenly sitting down infront of them, perhaps to show that he was not as evil as they had perhaps been expecting. "Secondly, I had come down here to stop you from endangering yourselves, but in your foolish haste, you and your friends ran before I could stop you, and now you are all in a bad situation."

"A bad situation? What do you mean?" Amy asked, suddenly feeling sick for a different reason now, as she knelt down beside Laelapmon, stroking her ears in a bid to pacify her partner's tenseness.

"The digimon you and your friend are tracking is a very dangerous one. It's unlike anything you will ever experience." the dog digimon began. "It can not be reasoned with. It feels no emotion, no mercy, no pity, no remorse for those it hurts... and kills. It is a digimon driven only by the desire to fight, ceaselessly. And you and your friend, in your foolish bid to play heroics, stumbled into an area where it is in it's element."

"How... how did you know we were tracking it? How do you know how dangerous this thing is?" Amy asked, holding onto Laelapmon tightly, where she felt her heart sink at the thought of Joey and Manimon possibly being in danger.

"There is no other reason I can think of why two Tamers and their digimon would head to a closed train station, other than to track down a target. That is how I know." the black digimon mused, bowing his head slightly, the skull helmet on his head concealing his bright red eyes. "And I know how dangerous Centimon, the digimon causing the tremors, is, because I have been tracking it for a while now, and each time, it has escaped from me. It has been causing havoc across subways and sewers here for over a week or so, now."

"Amy... I think Joey and Manimon are..." Laelapmon whispered, her voice tight and husky where she had been growing very worried as the conversation went on.  
"Please, mister digimon..." Amy asked, after seeing the big dog stand back up, ready to move off back down the tunnel. "Please, help us save our friends..."

"You shall address me as 'Barghestmon' if you insist on addressing me." the black dog stated, with his back to them. "And it is not my responsibility to shepherd and save every human stupid enough to put himself, knowingly, into the danger zone."

Amy suddenly felt anger boiling away inside her. Running ahead of him with Laelapmon, she blocked him off, staring into his red eyes. She didn't feel afraid anymore... just a grim determination.

"If you want to go back, you'll... you'll have to fight us." Amy began. She didn't care if Barghestmon thought her 'stupid', even if their power was not enough to stand a chance against him. "But Joey is my friend, and we came down here to stop the tremors. We didn't want to let him go alone... but he and Manimon are here because they wanted to help, to do the right thing, for the sake of the people that live here. Not for glory, not for heroics... but to do the right thing... and if Centimon keeps getting away from you, maybe rather than walk away from me, you'll take us with you, and help us... and let us help you stop this thing! And if you still think of us all as being foolish, so be it... but we're trying to do the right thing... and that's not a terrible thing to want."

Barghestmon paused, his expression an otherwise unreadable one. After mulling this over, he voiced his reply.

"I think you are very foolish... but perhaps also very brave. If you are willing to give yourself, every ounce of your being into this, then come along. But if you are not serious about this threat that is affecting this city, if you can not commit yourself to this... then go home. This is no place for half-hearted fighting."

"I have no intention of running away... not any more." Amy fired back, walking beside Barghestmon, with Laelapmon between them. "I'm not going to let something like Centimon just go around destroying things, and putting everyone I care about in danger."

"And if Amy is going to fight, so will I. Nothing is going to prevent me from helping Amy!" Laelapmon barked up, to show her support for her tamer.

"Very well... let's head back to where that terminal was, and go and find Centimon... and your foolish friends." Amy was about to say something in regards to that, but stopped, when she thought she saw the ghost of a smile on the big dog's face.

 

* * *

"Moon Fire!" yelled Manimon, dodging a swipe from Centimon's tail. A ball of silvery white flame charged at the tip of Manimon's horn, before he released it, firing it off into Centimon's face.  
With a strange, unearthly shrieking hiss, the worm pulled back briefly.

"I've got it backed up, Joey!" Manimon called, perking up where he felt the tide was turning in his favour. "Moon Fi- AAAAGHH!"

Centimon had recovered quickly, his thick segmented tail whipping around to smash against Manimon, sending him flying into the wall.

"Manimon! You've got to get out of there, this is too dangerous!" Joey yelled, still desperately trying to shift through the rubble.  
He checked his D-Drive, sweat pouring down his face, where he'd been desperately trying to break through to the other side, and from tension. Manimon's icon, which had a green pulsating aura around it to indicate full health, was now a worrying shade of yellow, the aura around the icon growing dimmer, with the pulse spreading from it beating faster, akin to a heart beat.

He checked the map again, to keep track of what was going on. Manimon's icon was jittering slightly in place, so he was still moving... he must be trying to get back on his feet, Joey thought.  
The large dot representing Centimon was turning itself around to face Manimon.  
Joey noticed a branching tunnel leading from that station further down the rail lines, and got an idea.

"Manimon, can you hear me? Run down the rail line, one of the tracks will bend off to lead to an area where they keep the trains if they break down, I'm going to try to get inside, meet me there!" he called, as he began to run. "And for the love of god... do not die."

He wished he didn't have to run like this, but this might be the only chance he had to get Manimon out of there and by his side.

"Dazzle!" yelled Manimon, after steadying himself. His head was pounding, and his vision was blurring, but he'd heard Joey enough to know what he had to do.

Light bright enough to match light levels with the sun suddenly filled the room as Manimon's horn gave off a bright, white light. Centimon howled in it's unearthly voice, as it became blinded from the flash. This was all Manimon needed to start speeding away down the train tracks after diving off the platform.

 

* * *

Joey burst up the stairs and into the hub, before running head first into Barghestmon's chest, where his eyes had been glued to the map screen and track on his D-Drive.

"Joey!" Amy yelled, appearing shortly after, from the tunnel behind Barghestmon, running over to help him up. "I'm so glad you're alright... we just came to help you!"

"What's going on? Where's Manimon?" Laelapmon asked, staring about worriedly after noticing the last member of the group was absent.

"There was a cave-in... tunnel collapsed... Manimon got trapped on the other side, something big is attacking him..." Joey gushed impatiently, "I told him to run down the train tracks and meet me at the carriage maintenance room, where the train carriages are taken when they break down, it's the room nearest to where Manimon and that thing are..."

"Centimon..." Barghestmon growled, startling Joey a little bit. "your partner is in grave danger. I do not have time to explain right now, young man, but for the moment, we are allies."

Joey seemed uncertain at first, but he did not have the time to consider if he could trust the dog that had startled them all into running off in the first place, right now.

"Follow me, we have got to get to the maintenance room, or... I don't want to think about what could happen to Manimon.." and with that, Joey tore off down another tunnel following the map on his D-Drive.

 

* * *

"NO! What the hell?" Joey pounded his fists uselessly against the thick security door that had halted their entry into the maintenance room.  
The door, and entire room, was bomb proof. As well as train maintenance, any trains bearing suspicious packages were brought here to be inspected in case anything dangerous was on board. The only thing near by was another terminal, this one slightly different from the one back at the Hub.

"I doubt even I could break through something as reinforced as this..." Barghestmon commented. He prowled up and down the length of the gigantic, very thick door.

"Please try, Manimon is depending on this..." Joey begged, looking more and more desperate and upset and frustrated as worry began to tighten it's grip on him.

"I can not promise anything... but stand back." Barghestmon urged, and when everyone was at a safe distance, he focused as much power as he could on the door. "Mauthe Pyre!" he roared, his entire body setting alight with deep, dark flames, before he fired a stream of black and red flame at the security doors.

A wall of flame rose, rapidly engulfing the entire door, before Barghestmon ceased the attack. There were burn holes now appearing where the flames had blistered most of the metal, but metal thicker still lined further behind the layer Barghestmon had only managed to partly destroy.

"It's too thick, I would need a greater level of energy that isn't accessible to me right now to be able to do anything to that door, and trying at my current level, we would not have the time. It would take too long even trying to burn a small hole through. It's completely reinforced." Barghestmon sighed.

Amy had noticed a small vent, a little way back down the corridor... it was too small for a person of Joey's physique, and much too small for Barghestmon... but for someone with Amy's build, she was confident she'd be able to get through, and it would be no problem for Laelapmon.

"Laelapmon... could you help me get the vent grill off?" Amy asked. Seeing Barghestmon attack the door, surely something like a grill would be no problem.

Laelapmon looked at the grill, and took aim with her technique. Wind seemed to swirl around her form, and take the shape of white blades.

"Gale Blade!" Laelapmon called, her ears fluttering in the breeze that came seemingly from nowhere.

The white wind-knives burst forward and struck the vent, completely slicing it to pieces.  
Amy didn't hesitate to kneel down and crawl through, with Laelapmon following.

"Amy? Where are you?" Joey called, turning from where Barghestmon and he had been trying to come to some form of agreement as to what they should do, and on seeing neither Amy or Laelapmon present, rushed back, completely passing by the vent.

Barghestmon padded after him, sniffing. He could pick up Laelapmon's scent on the ground, and noticed the vent that the dark had partially concealed from them.

"They went through here..." Barghestmon informed Joey, when he ran back, looking worried. "Obviously, they've gone through as a bid to reach Manimon..."  
"AMY!" Joey yelled down the vent, but silence was all that met him. They must already have got through inside.

"All we can do is wait for word..." Barghestmon said quietly, turning back to the door. "I've tried all I can, but we will not get through that way."

"I'm... I'm going to try hacking the terminal..." Joey suddenly said, heading back over to the security door. He booted it up, and connected his D-Drive up to it. As an employee of Arch Angel, he'd learned a thing or two about accessing things he wasn't supposed to be able to get in, though he'd had his reasons for doing so, this would be the first time he would be hacking into something outside of Arch Angel.

Barghestmon simply stood behind him, watching carefully. He had a feeling this was not going to work.

 

* * *

Amy pushed the grill down, and crawled out into the vast open room, which hadn't suffered any damage from the tremors thanks to the reinforcements embedded into the room's structure. Laelapmon appeared shortly afterwards, shaking herself clean of dust and dirt.

Empty trains were left standing down respective lanes in the underground roundhouse, and some taken up onto raised platforms for fixing the undersides.

The ground rumbled underfoot, and Amy took cover behind a train, with Laelapmon pressed against her side cautiously. Peering around the side of the carriage, she could see the giant parasitic worm, Centimon, looming up, looking around restlessly. Manimon must be inside somewhere, hiding, she thought.

Amy placed a finger against her lips to signify they had to be quiet. Moving forward closer to Centimon using the carriages as cover. Just as they passed by the second train, two paws reached out and grabbed Amy, one covering her mouth to prevent her from screaming. Blinking after the shock passed, Amy noticed it was Manimon, who was pretty roughed up.

"I took shelter in here... he hasn't found me yet, but it won't be long, I guess... what are you doing here?" he whispered, getting them both inside the train, where they all laid low against the floor, trying to keep hidden.

"There's a thick security door, we couldn't get through... me and Laelapmon managed to get through a vent..." Amy whispered.

Laelapmon raised her ears ever so slightly.

"I can't hear anything... it's gone completely silent..." she looked over at Amy and Manimon worried, lowering her ears again, "this feels really unsettling..."

Amy crawled back over to the door, and peered out. There was nothing she could see either side of her that seemed off... until she felt like it was suddenly growing darker. Looking up, she just barely registered something coming down at her.

Pulling herself back quickly, Amy stared in horror as a two-pronged tail smashed down into the concrete, jamming itself in. Amy shuddered at what that might have done, had it hit her.

"Out! Everyone, out of the train!" she shrieked, barely able to think as she ran, trying to get the others out of the way.

The three managed to run only a short distance before Centimon pulled his tail free of the ground, head-butting the train they had just been standing in.  
Laelapmon saw it coming, and for her, the world seemed to slow down. She threw herself at Amy, pinning the girl down on the floor, as the train soared over them; had she not done this, it may have hit Amy.

"Laelapmon..." Amy gasped, a little winded from her fall "thank you..."

"Damn! It's caught up with us!" Manimon shouted, as Centimon came thundering towards them at an alarming rate, stretching open its leech-like mouth in readiness.

"Sonic Boom!" Laelapmon yelled, firing of a concentrated burst of air like a cannon ball from her mouth, wind trailing from it as it rammed into Centimon. The loud booming sound giving off by her attack made it fly into a frenzy, as it whipped it's tail back and smacked Laelapmon flying into the side of a train.

Amy screamed and ran after her, temporarily forgetting about Centimon. She knelt down beside Laelapmon's side, not wanting to move her in case she caused any more damage. Laelapmon was shaking from the hit, her eyes not focusing straight and her head spinning.

"I-I'll be okay, Amy..." Laelapmon muttered weakly, attempting to get back up, stumbling and slipping, as Amy helped her up.

Centimon, still enraged from Laelapmon's attack, went to strike again.

Manimon saw this coming, and saw that the girls were not able to escape, selflessly rushed in, disregarding his own safety in order to save them. The segmented tail of Centimon wrapped around his little body, and began to tighten and cut off any attempt to move.

Amy screamed out, grabbing anything to hand, debris from the wrecked train, and throwing it at Centimon, but it did no good.  
Laelapmon weakly tried to summon her Gale Blades, and even though it left deep cuts in Centimon's body, where streams of data particles began to burst, it was so far gone in it's anger that nothing would stop it from getting a kill in.

Manimon could do nothing except scream in agony.

 

* * *

Joey hadn't been able to crack through the coding that would open the door. The only thing he had accomplished was hacking into the cameras, and the intercom made for making announcements to all around the station.

Sweat poured down his face, but his skin was icy cold, and he'd gone pale staring at Manimon on the monitor, slowly being squeezed to death by Centimon.

"I... how can it be so strong...?" Joey breathed, his voice shaking. "I know digimon get through, all the time... this... this isn't the first time Manimon and I fought off a rogue digimon that got into the real world... why is this one so..." there were no words Joey could form to describe the horror he was feeling, seeing the murderous shine in Centimon's eyes, and how it would not stop at anything to fight...

"It is infected by a virus, a bad one that once a digimon falls prey to, once their mind is in the virus' grip, they can not be saved by normal means, and there is no solution that I found that could rid the host of the virus..." Barghestmon murmured, watching the screen. "Manimon is almost done for... but there is still something you can do, something only a Tamer can provide..."

Joey stared at Barghestmon, his expression one of desperation and misery.

"Tell me. Tell me what I have to do... I don't want Manimon to die..."

"Then, Tamer, you must send him your strength. Send him your hope... you must create a miracle for Manimon, and initiate the next phase of his growth." Barghestmon said, in a voice rather soft for something so intimidating looking.

"How do I do that?" Joey snapped, staring back at the screen. He could see Amy sobbing, holding onto Laelapmon, who was also in a rough shape, desperately using up all her energy in vain to try to get Manimon free. Manimon was laying limply in Centimon's hold, his eyes closed, almost like he'd given up... just seeing that look on his face was the most painful thing Joey had ever seen in his life, and it made him boil with rage at Centimon's destructiveness.

"Manimon..." Joey suddenly began to speak, through the loud speaker, as he clutched his D-Drive. "I'm so sorry... I couldn't find a way through the door... I couldn't save you..."

He reached out, and touched his hand against the screen, against Manimon's face.

"...You helped me out so much, and together, we stopped a lot of bad digimon... we weren't doing it because it was our job... we did it to keep people safe... this is the hardest fight we've ever had to fight through... and though it scares me, Manimon... I don't want to give up hope..."

Manimon felt his mind going dark, and everything around him seeming to grow faint... the only thing he could hear were Joey's words, which seemed to be audible deep inside his head, and inside his heart.

"We can't give up, Manimon... that's what you taught me, during the times when I first started work at Arch Angel, when I never thought I'd find the answers... you told me to keep going, because we'd barely begun... and our friendship is the same, Manimon... it's barely begun... I don't want to lose you to this!"

Joey suddenly felt his D-Drive vibrate and glow fiercely, as it reacted to his plea to reach Manimon. Staring at the screen, he saw Manimon's body begin to glow and change shape in a burst of light.

 

* * *

Centimon seemed to grow afraid of the piercing light, a light that was warm and strong. Recoiling back, it's hold on Manimon's body loosened.

Amy had to shield her eyes as she and Laelapmon stared up at what was happening.  
"Manimon, digivolve to...!"

His voice rang out and echoed around the vast room, light filling up every inch, every nook and cranny. Nothing remained in shadow.

"DVERGAMON!"

Where Manimon once was, there now was something different. a brown and red rabbit digimon with a large black turbine for a tail, and sharp, powerful drills on it's arms now stood, with flaming exhausts on the end of it's ears.

"Moljnir Megaton!" Dvergamon roared, firing up his drill and then piercing it straight through Centimon's body, cutting it's tail clean off.

Centimon shrieked in agony and backed off. Suddenly, Barghestmon's voice could be heard on the loud speaker.

"Everyone, get out onto the tracks again, we're going to seal him inside the room."

Amy grabbed a hold of Laelapmon and carried her out as fast as she could over her back, Dvergamon rushing after them.

Centimon's tail still wriggled madly about, even though it had been separated from the rest of it's body. It made a mad dash after the trio, as the doors began to shut, with the warning siren blaring to signify the doors in action. Joey had managed to trigger the panic button to get the room to go into lock down mode.

Amy looked over her shoulder and gasped as the door hadn't closed enough to block Centimon, who was dragging itself at them where the loss of it's tail had affected it's balanced. It rammed it's head through the gap remaining to snap at them, before the heavy doors clamped down on it, bursting it's head apart in a cloud of data particles.

The three escapees let out a sigh of relief, and began heading back to station 3.

 

* * *

Dvergamon had cleared the rubble that had blocked him and Joey before, as the effect wore off, and he transformed back down to Manimon, staggering forward into Joey's arms from exhaustion.

"You scared me for moment back there, Manimon..." Joey murmured, managing to smile for the first time after all this time.

"I had you to guide me, Joe... thank you." Manimon said, in a voice showing genuine care, with no shred of his usual sarcasm.

"It'll be dawn by now." Barghestmon stated, as they began heading back up. "Your digimon need rest."

"Barghestmon... there's still a lot of things I'd like to know..." Joey said, when they got out.

"I want to know, too... me and Laelapmon intend to find out what's happening around here, and do our best to help..." Amy added.  
"I understand, but for now, this is neither the time nor place for discussion. Go home and get rested." Barghestmon said. "Scan me with the D-Drives before you go, so you'll be able to identify me on your trackers for next time."

The tamers did as instructed, getting up his data, but both were too tired to check in-depth, not that Barghestmon seemed to care either way.

After Barghestmon departed off, Joey showed Amy another command for the D-Drive, "Digitize", which stored Laelapmon and Manimon back inside their D-Drives.

"After I set Laelapmon's, um, home up, inside the terminal, it will put her into auto-heal mode, and she'll recover her health, kind of like a recharge period." Joey said, after they got back to their apartments.

Amy watched as Joey set the terminal up, and Laelapmon wandered around the screen with curiosity, batting at the cursor with her paw.

"Can you try the lights for me?" Joey asked Laelapmon, just to make sure she'd been "installed" correctly.

"OK, Mr. Joey." Laelapmon replied, giving the lights in Amy's apartment a flash.

"Yeah, she's got in safe and secured. Let the system do the rest for her. I'll pop in tomorrow after work to see how you're getting on." Joey said, after getting out of the front door.

"Alright... thanks again, Joey..." Amy said, rubbing her arm a little, looking back at the terminal.

"Actually... I should be thanking you, Amy." Joey responded, looking aside slightly. "I'm glad you came with me... I thought, since me and Manimon do this for a 'living' and off-duty stuff when bad things go down, that we could handle it... but if you didn't come down, it might have ended badly... You covered Manimon for me, when I couldn't, right up to the end... thank you."

Amy didn't know how to reply to that, so she just smiled.

"I want to help out more in future... I'm going to be staying in Japan for a year, and if digimon attacks can get as bad as this, me and Laelapmon need all the help we can get... that Infected one... I guess we were just unfortunate that we started out at the deep end..."

"Yeah... most of the digimon me and Manimon faced aren't as bad as that, we haven't had to destroy too many of them, most of the time we just bring them into the holding cells and then deport them back to the digital world... but I suppose that's something for another day. Good night, Amy."

Amy saw Joey off down the corridor with a wave, "bye, Joey..."

The moment she closed the door, Amy retreated into her bedroom, and feeling very low, cried herself to sleep. Tomorrow, there was someone she had to see.


	3. Episode 3. The Dilemma

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Joey decides to leave Manimon at home, and Amy pays a visit to a friend in hospital, Manimon drags Laelapmon into an unsupervised city exploration that causes more trouble than it was worth...

# Episode 3. The Dilemma

* * *

Amy had been awake since 6am, laying on her back, staring at the ceiling. Her dreams had been all over the place, she hadn't been able to control the flow of them, and they had rapidly spiralled down into the darkest of nightmares.

She had been running down tunnels and corridors in them, reliving the events of the previous night, coupled with her anxieties of the day ahead. She had been mixed up, and her head hadn't been in the game... perhaps she had thought the previous day had been a dream, too? She wished she was still dreaming, and that this day wasn't going to happen. It'd be her hardest one yet.

Forcing herself out of bed, she stumbled to the bathroom, staring off into space as she had her shower. She got through the rest of the morning in the same zombie-like state, unfocused, her thoughts constantly wandering between things.

Laelapmon was sat at the table on a chair stacked up with books so she could see over the table-top properly, since she decided she wanted to sit with her tamer at breakfast. The little dog digimon immediately picked up that something was wrong.

"Amy...? are you alright...?" Laelapmon asked, after finishing off her mouthful of cereal from a little bowl Amy had laid out for her.

"Mmh..." Amy mumbled, leaning on one hand. She wasn't eating, just stirring her cereals round and round in swirling, circular motions. Whatever was on her mind, eating seemed to be the least of her concerns right now.

"Amy... please say something... I'm worried..." Laelapmon said softly, staring up at Amy worriedly.

"It's alright, Laelapmon... I've just... been living outside of reality, the past few days..." Amy sighed, finally seeming to 'join' Laelapmon from out of her thought-zone.

Laelapmon paused for a bit. She felt out of the loop, having barely learned much about Amy. She had yet to learn, for one thing, that Amy had come all the way over from England to do some studies abroad for a bit... and that there was an extra reason her tamer had come so far. There was something in Japan more important to Amy than studying, that was for certain.

Joey knocked on the door at around 7:45am, ready to leave for work.

"Amy, I'm heading out now, can I leave Manimon here? I'm sure Laelapmon will appreciate the company whilst they rest up after yesterday night..." he said, as Manimon let himself in.

"It's alright... I'm heading out, myself, too, so... will you two be alright, here?" she asked the digimon, as she got her coat on and grabbed her bag.

Laelapmon's expression fell, obviously not happy about this, since she was absolutely positive Amy was upset about something, still, but Manimon interrupted, waving his paw up.

"We'll be fine here, I'll show Laelapmon how to run a house and stuff whilst you're gone! So don't anybody worry, OK?" he grinned, mistaking the tension between Laelapmon and Amy as being anxiety over being separated for the first time.

"Alright, well, you two behave, don't go messing anything up in here, or there'll be hell to pay, you know." Joey said, giving Manimon a very suspicious sort of stare, as if this wouldn't have been the first time Manimon had screwed something up in the house, before.

"Oh come on, Joey! It'll be fine! Just go and grab the train already before you're late!" Manimon snapped, doing his best to shoo the human pair out of the house.

"I guess we don't want to be late, huh?" Joey sighed, after Amy had locked the door behind her. He noticed her face, her eyes dark and sore-looking from crying and lack of sleep. He didn't say anything on that subject, but he knew why she was upset. Her father had explained everything to him in private before Amy had even arrived over, and he had decided not to talk to her about this until she was ready.

"No... I guess not..." Amy replied in a barely audible voice, as the pair headed out of the apartments, to get off to the train station. The feeling of dread only seemed to grip on Amy's heart even harder the closer they got.

* * *

Amy accessed her emails on her PDA, as she rode the train now by herself. Joey had got off at the previous stop, so she was now left alone to her thoughts. A part of her felt guilty, since Joey had tried to cheer her up, but she'd been terrible company, barely saying anything in response to the things he'd been saying bar "mm-hmm" and "mmh".

She opened the same email she had been re-reading for the past week or so, trying to stop tears filling in her eyes.

"Amy, it's me. You're not going to believe what happened... I think the adventure I'd been wishing for, for so long, might be happening.

I wish I could tell you what's going on.

I'm going somewhere, far away... I wish you could come too, Amy.

I don't know when I'll be back, or if I can even get back.

But if I get out of this alright, there's something I want to tell you, the next time I can see you in person. Something I always wanted to tell you.

Please take care of yourself.

-Hiro"

She kept re-reading it over and over, trying to make sense of what this email had meant. This message had been the last message she had received from Hiro, before the incident that had happened a few weeks ago.

She was startled out of her thoughts by the sudden arrival at her stop, and getting out of the train, pocketed her PDA and followed the rest of the crowds up the stairs and into the street.

It didn't take her too long to reach the hospital she'd been travelling this way for, and it took even less once inside to be directed up to the right ward. Something that had taken relatively short time, had felt like an eternity to her. Her body felt so heavy, as she followed by the nurse leading her up past beds, until they reached the last bed, one by the window, overlooking the city.

Amy shakily sat herself down by the bed, where Hiro laid. He had been in a coma for weeks now, with no signs of coming out of it any time soon. Even if he did come round, his family had told her that they'd found he has a high chance of suffering head trauma... he may not even remember who she is.

This was the hardest thing she'd ever had to face in her life. Hiro had been a part of her life since they had been very small. Their families were very close, and the pair had been inseparable. Whenever something bad had brought Amy down, Hiro had been right behind her, to help her pick up the pieces. He and his family had been there, when Amy had turned 12, after her mother had passed away from illness contracted from her and her father's exploration trip abroad to one of the last remaining jungles left on earth.

He had got her through the darkest moment of her life... and now, here, he was trapped in his darkest moment, and she could do nothing at all to help.

She hadn't believed his mother at first when she had phoned all the way across the world to break the news to them... he had gone missing for a few days from his home, and when he was found, he had apparently been collapsed just outside the hospital, in a coma. It had happened a few days after he had sent that last email, too...

"oh Hiro..." she sobbed, clasping his hand in hers. He looked as though he were simply sleeping, and she had been wishing over and over that he would just 'wake up' out of it, that this wasn't happening... but it _was_ happening, and there was just no telling when this would end.

All anyone would be able to do is wait.

* * *

Manimon watched Laelapmon pacing back and forth near the window for the seventh time now since the others had left. He'd showed her how to work the various utilities and things around the house, manually for when she spent time outside of the terminal, as they were now, and advice for running things when she was inside the terminal.

But each time he'd been showing her how to work something, he'd catch her staring back at the window, or wandering back over to it, lost in thought.

"I know you're worried, but she'll be okay... they don't need to take us out ALL the time, you know, digimon attacks don't happen every single day, and besides, Joey would know about it. Centimon is dead, Amy will be safe, OK? Try to relax already, Laelapmon." he sighed, climbing up onto the sofa.

"That's not it... I know me and Amy aren't joined at the hip. Humans like their space. But last night, before she went to bed, she looked so sad... I thought I heard crying from her room, but she'd locked the door and I couldn't get in... and this morning, it was like she was lost deep in thought... she was in the room with me, but she felt so far away, too... I don't know what to do, Manimon... she won't tell me what's wrong." Laelapmon let out a sigh, her gaze fixed on the window the entire time.

Manimon slid back down off the sofa and walked over, jumping up and pulling the door handle to the balcony down. Both digimon shuffled out onto the balcony and sat, watching the world go by.

All of the humans below, living their lives. Each of them with their own problems they had to face.

"Are all humans so... troubled?" Laelapmon asked, after a moment of silence had passed.

"I think everyone has troubles, Laelapmon... I guess it's not so much having troubles, it's how they cope or fix the problems affecting their lives. Joey has problems, too, but he has things to help him cope... like his obsessiveness with tidying the house over and over, it's how he takes his mind off of things." Manimon replied, his legs hanging down over the side of the railings. "Sometimes they can't fix what's wrong in their lives right away, so they focus on something 'temporary' that takes their mind off of it."

"But what if Amy can't find something that helps her cope? What if I can't get through to her? I wish I was better help to her..." Laelapmon replied, still looking worried. "Manimon... what if I'm not the right partner for her...?"

Manimon looked taken aback by this, and turned his head sharply, staring down at her with disbelief.

"Why would you doubt yourself like that? You're perfect for Amy! Listen, I know you're like really, really new to all this... but you and Amy are just getting to know each other, after all! Give it some time, when you get to know Amy better, you'll know what you can do to help her best... alright? Please, Laelapmon. Don't stress yourself out over this. She'll tell you what's wrong when the time is right... it took me a while before I learned about Joey's life, too, you know."

"I suppose so..." Laelapmon sighed, clumsily climbing up beside Manimon on the little glass-top table on the balcony, next to where Manimon sat.

They continued to watch over the city from the balcony, enjoying the cool breeze flowing past them, until something happened to catch Manimon's attention, his ears twitching, and his sharp, alert eyes catching sight of something below.

A small black fox digimon, with two fluffy tails, could be seen stalking across the car park below.

"Hey, that looks like a digimon!" Manimon whispered to Laelapmon, suddenly leaning low, and pushing poor Laelapmon flat down on the table to keep themselves 'covered' from view. Laelapmon let out a soft whimper from the sudden handling of being squashed down flat, but Manimon didn't seem to hear it.

"Who or what is it?" she asked back quietly, trying to wriggle free from under Manimon's arm to get a better look at the dark-coloured digimon they were trying to observe.

"I think it's at the rookie stage, like us... we should follow them, find out what they're doing here!" Manimon murmured, an excited glint in his eye at the prospect of something exciting finally happening, having spent most of his days off doing nothing productive.

"Didn't you learn anything from last night?" Laelapmon asked wearily, "besides, Joey and Amy won't like it if we wander off again... you know how worried Joey got when you and he got separated during the fighting... what if things go wrong, what if-"

Manimon pressed his paw over Laelapmon's mouth to hush her, before speaking again, his eyes still fixed on the fox digimon.

"We're only going to check this out and see what happens, just in-case it's an enemy, if it's nothing to worry about we'll come back up... second, there's two of us and only one of them, so we've got the advantage! So ya see, Laelapmon, it's all in our favour... and it's my job as well as Joey's to keep the city safe, so I have a duty to do for the city!" he exclaimed, patting his chest proudly.

Laelapmon could see multiple problems with this plan, but before she could stop him, Manimon launched himself down from the balcony, descending down steadily by jumping between balconies and ledges on the side of the apartments.

"Manimon, wait!" Laelapmon called out, following down after him as best she could, stumbling a few times in her haste. On a third story balcony, she'd failed to land properly, and slipped. Tumbling down through thin air, she quickly began to flap her ears, causing wind to swirl up around her, rapidly slowing her descent.

Managing to hover just for a few seconds before reaching the ground, she touched down, shaking herself over from nerves. Her legs shook under her, from anxiety and worry about Manimon's plans, barely having time to register seeing him taking off across the car park after the fox digimon, who looked alarmed, but was quickly fleeing down a near-by alleyway behind more apartment buildings.

"Hey! Wait the hell up, and tell us who you are!" Manimon yelled, his strong lapin legs pushing him forward, enabling him to start closing the gap between himself and the black fox digimon, reaching out his paws, he'd almost be able to grab one of the fox's tails-

when suddenly, in a burst of black smoke, the fox vanished. Manimon, moving too fast to stop, went sliding forward out of control, and crashed, knocking over several trash cans in the process.

Laelapmon padded into the alleyway, and had managed to catch the tail end of this escapade happening. She headed down the alley, following a particular scent she had caught up on...

Forgetting about poor Manimon, who was upside down against the wall, and trying to get himself free from being buried under a heap of trash, Laelapmon followed the scent trail, which trailed off from where the fox had vanished, to one side, ending behind a dumpster just around the corner to where they were.

The shadows in this place were dark, and Laelapmon could notice the scent strongest here... but failed to see the fox, until the shadows themselves seemed to move towards her, the fox forming out of them, until the fox pressed it's nose right up against Laelapmon's.

"Boo~" the fox digimon said suddenly, which caused an already surprised Laelapmon to stumble over herself and fall backwards. The fox simply laughed, stepping forward, looking her over, before glancing off down the side alley to where Manimon was just getting himself upright.

"That is so typical of men, overshooting the mark like that." the fox sighed, rolling her eyes. "And you put up with him?"

Laelapmon got back onto her feet, and opened her mouth to reply, before Manimon woozily came dashing up towards them, crashing into Laelapmon and knocking himself and her back over.

The fox took note of Manimon having landed right on top of Laelapmon, making it look like he'd pinned her down.

"And it's also typical of men to be over-eager on the first _date_ , too." she smirked, walking around them with a playful look in her eyes.

Manimon's face seemed to erupt from white to bright red in a matter of seconds from her statement, as he jumped off of Laelapmon as though she'd been on fire.

"Hey, I'm not over-eager, fox-face!" he growled, feeling humiliated at having slammed himself into a wall and essentially making a fool of himself twice.

"I notice that you didn't deny that you're on a date, though, bunny-boy." the fox replied, smirking again. She seemed to be taking great amusement in all of this, especially Manimon's increasingly frustrated and embarrassed reactions.

"If you don't shut your mouth, I'll shut it for you!" he snapped, flexing his paws agitatedly, wanting to fight right there and then, but Laelapmon got in-between them both.

"Easy, tiger." the fox replied casually, waving her paw at him in a dismissive way.

"Who are you, and why are you hanging around here?" Laelapmon asked, tilting her head slightly, not understanding Manimon's increasing hostility towards the fox.

"I'm Cadmemon, and that's none of your concern, puppy." the fox replied, her tails curling around herself. "Because if I told you, I wouldn't be allowed to let you live~"

"Hah... whatever. You're up to something, I bet you're an illegally gained one, not even registered by Arch Angel..." Manimon sighed, folding his arms.

Cadmemon's fur bristled up, her cool-as-a-cucumber attitude quickly melting into seething anger, as she pounced onto Manimon, pinning him down.

"Arch Angel? Don't even dare to say that name around me, bunny-boy..." she growled, digging her claws into his chest slightly.

Manimon groaned in pain, but said nothing. Whatever was happening, this digimon had a grudge against Arch Angel, that much was certain.

Laelapmon tugged on Cadmemon's tails, managing to pull her off.

"please, Cadmemon... we fought with Centimon, the digimon causing all the tremors and destruction to the subway lines, last night, and it put our tamers in danger... we were worried you might be an enemy Digimon..." Laelapmon explained, wishing the tension between the fox and rabbit would die down soon.

"...you fought with Centimon?" Cadmemon asked, giving them an incredulous look. "We've been tracking him for a while, and you two wet-behind-the-ears rookies just came and thought you'd have a go fighting it? I find that hard to believe..."

"We didn't just fight it, we killed it." Manimon exclaimed, a smile forming on his face, "what, does that burn you up, foxy? That a bunch of us 'rookies' killed your big, bad Centimon for you? Well, you can get back to me any time now with your gratitude, it's all in a day's work."

Laelapmon wasn't liking where this was all going, with the tension and aggression between the pair becoming almost choking.

"Our tamers helped, but it wasn't easy..." Laelapmon added, shooting Manimon a sharp glance. She wished he would calm down and be a bit more humble, especially since Centimon had been very, very dangerous. "I... It may have been a bit out of our leagues, but... with the help of our tamers, we all got through, in the end..."

"I'm sorry, what? 'Get through'? Centimon is dangerous, it's wiped out countless digimon that have got through into the real world, and the virus on it kept making it reform and regenerate it's health from it's injuries..." Cadmemon replied bitterly, starting to head off. "Whatever, if you're lying, I'll find out about it."

"Oh no you don't, fox-face. You don't just turn and walk away from me!" Manimon suddenly leapt forward, wrapping one arm around Cadmemon's chest, and the other around her stomach, restraining her. "I don't trust you one bit, I'm keeping you captive, you know a lot about these things and seem to know things about Arch Angel, so I want answers!"

"There's only one problem with that, bunny-boy..." Cadmemon murmured, glancing over her shoulder at him slyly "You've yet to catch me." and in another shadowy burst of smoke, she'd vanished once more, reappearing further up ahead. She waved her tails at them teasingly, before tearing off down another alley.

"Damn it!" Manimon growled, rushing after her once more. Laelapmon sighed, taking off after them both, wondering what on earth had just happened for them to get involved in yet another mess.

Both digimon pursued their target down every twist and turn she ran down, sometimes seeming to keep up with her, and other times barely keeping up at all. At one point, they reached a dead-end filled with shadows, and were forced to stop.

"It's no use, she could be in any of these..." Manimon sighed, looking between the shaded areas of the alley in dismay. "Laelapmon, can you sniff her out?"

"She's moving too quickly, I'd never be able to pinpoint her exact spot..." Laelapmon replied worriedly, her eyes constantly flitting about trying to keep track of where the scent came the strongest. "If only it weren't so dark, maybe she'd have nowhere to hide..."

"You've given me an idea!" Manimon cried, clapping his paws together excitedly, "Dazzle!"

Light burst from the tip of Manimon's horn, filling up the entire alley with light. There came a pained shriek, and one shadow remaining, reeling slightly in pain. The black cloud-like shroud surrounding Cadmemon's body evaporated off of her, leaving her to glare at the pair in annoyance.

"God, you're annoyingly persistent! You must like bad girls if you've been chasing me this far, bunny-boy." she fired at Manimon, keeping her distance.

"Oh shut up! You're coming with us. I'm going to get you!" he called, pointing his paw at her.

"Ooh, I can hardly wait, bunny-boy..." she smirked, giving him a rather flirtatious smile, waving her tails at him tormentingly. "Well? Come and get it!"

Manimon lost his temper and threw himself at Cadmemon, but she quick-stepped around him swiftly, watching him fall flat on his face.

"Sonic Boom!" Laelapmon yelled, firing off a clear glassy orb of swirling wind energy, which was hurtling right towards Cadmemon.

Cadmemon laughed as she kicked off from the back of Manimon's head, leaping over the shot, which smacked into Manimon and sent him flying into the wall.

"Manimon!" Laelapmon gasped with wide eyes, not having intended for the attack to have even hit him. Cadmemon simply laughed, finding the whole thing hilarious.

"Nice try, puppy." Cadmemon grinned, as she walked past, tickling Laelapmon's chin with the tips of her tails. "This has been fun, but I really have somewhere to be. He's almost here, you know."

"He? Who is 'he'?" Laelapmon asked, shaking her head from the tickling.

Just as this had been asked, there came a loud roaring sound, followed by something being smashed up loudly nearby.

"What the heck is going on?" Manimon yelled over the noise, after hauling himself over, leaning on Laelapmon for support.

"I have business with someone needing their butt kicked." Cadmemon exclaimed, heading off towards the noise "so, if you'll excuse me... it's time to go play with the big boys, now!"

Laelapmon watched her leave, feeling worried.

"It sounds like it could be a digimon attacking... do you think she can handle it on her own?" Laelapmon asked, helping Manimon steady himself.

"Heh... not that I care whether she can or not, but I'm only going because I'm more worried about humans coming to harm." he stated, heading off ahead on his own.

* * *

An Apemon was in another estate's car park, smashing in a car with it's bone club. It's muscles bulged, and fur bristled, with spittle spraying from it's mouth with each unearthly roar that shook through it, it's eyes glazed over and unfocused.

Cadmemon watched it finish with the car, the next swing of the bone club completely shattering in the front windscreen, glittering shards of glass flying out from every direction. The alarm had been going off for a while now, blaring loudly.

"Okay, big boy, you've had your fun, now let's get down to business, shall we?" she called, slinking up behind him. "Shadow Attraction!"

Darkness began to form around Cadmemon's body, as a black shadowy gateway appeared underneath the Apemon's feet. Cadmemon dived down into the black portal, dragging Apemon down with her. Struggling, the Apemon gripped tightly onto the car, hanging on for dear life as black flames licked up his body from the portal, causing him to howl in pain.

Seeing as he was holding onto something too big to be dragged down into the portal, Cadmemon was forced up. The portal retained it's tight grip on the ape's waist, the monkey digimon having sunk half-way into the ground.

"Vile Claw!" Cadmemon called out, as the darkness around her focused itself on her paws, forming large, sharp claw-like daggers, which she began to strike at the Apemon with. This would be over shortly, she thought to herself.

"Hey!" Manimon called, as he and Laelapmon came into sight.

Cadmemon lost her focus in the short moment she'd allowed herself to get distracted by Manimon and Laelapmon, and this was all the time that Apemon needed to turn the tables. Whilst still gripping the car with one hand, he reached around and grabbed Cadmemon's face, lifting her up high, and slamming her head-first into the ground, gripping her head with it's large bulked-up hands tightly, trying to crush her.

She might have called out, had she been able to breathe, now, she was left at the mercy of Apemon.

"Manimon, we've got to do something... that thing will kill her!" Laelapmon cried, getting ready to run over.

"Why should we? She's obviously a trouble maker, and we don't even know if she's trustworthy, considering how she behaved before!"

"It's not just that, that digimon has the same aura about it that Centimon did, though weaker... maybe it's infected with the virus... we have to fight that thing, regardless whether you like the person it's hurting or not... that's the right thing to do, right?" Laelapmon replied insistently, giving him a desperate look.

Something told her Cadmemon wasn't good... but certainly not evil, either.

Manimon sighed and flexed his arms in readiness, running at Apemon, looking frustrated.

"I'm only doing it because it's for you, Laelapmon, alright?"

the digimon pair rushed over, Manimon using Moon Fire at the same time Laelapmon fired off a Sonic Boom, both attacks hitting Apemon at the same time, and knocking it flying into a wall nearby.

Cadmemon shakily got to her feet, shooting them both a glare.

"I could have handled him, you know... I only got caught because you distracted me, rabbit-boy!" she fired off, before turning her gaze back on the Apemon.

"You know, you could've thanked us for saving your life, there!" Manimon called over, feeling annoyed. He couldn't stand Cadmemon, but for Laelapmon's sake he resigned himself to trying to tolerate her.

"Keep focused, he's getting back up!" Laelapmon barked, a series of blades forming out of wind and air she was summoning. "Let's hurry up and finish this before he snaps out of that daze, Gale Blades!"

"Moon Fire!" Manimon yelled, blasting out a burst of silvery-white flame, as Cadmemon launched herself with her shadow-encased claws out-stretched, all three Digimon's attacks slaying the Apemon out-right, where it had yet to finish getting back onto it's feet.

"That wasn't so bad, was it? I think we work well as a team." Laelapmon spoke after the three watched the data rise into the sky and fade off into thin air. The little dog digimon padded over to stand beside Manimon, "Now that's over, what now? Cadmemon doesn't seem like a bad digimon, so can we go home? I doubt there will be any more trouble..."

"I guess..." Manimon sighed. He wasn't ready to just drop this, he wanted Cadmemon to answer the questions he had in mind, which were numerous. What is she doing around here, who is she working for, and what are they planning? He was almost positive nothing good could come out of just letting her go free, but Laelapmon seemed too worried about Amy and Joey finding out they'd left the apartment to care about this right now.

"Hey." Cadmemon called over, "you guys weren't too bad at this, after all... thanks. For the help, I mean." she said, glancing off to the side, "But not for before... I still stand by the fact I would've gotten myself free without your help. My shadow abilities, and all... but..."

Manimon felt his face redden up suddenly when Cadmemon came right up, her nose a mere inch from his,

"Thanks for your concern, bunny-boy." and with that, she teasingly licked his nose.

"OH GOD WHAT? PEW, PFFFFTTT, EW!" Manimon squealed, wiping his nose furiously with his paws, whilst hopping from foot to foot with a glowing red face.

At this moment, however, there came a noise similar to a camera's shutter after it had taken a photograph, and the three stared up in horror at a second digimon to arrive on the scene.

"Damn it!" Manimon yelped, suddenly awash with panic, "That's an Oculusmon, the camera digimon from Arch Angel!"

Laelapmon stared from Manimon to Cadmemon, noticing both were looking horrified. Oculusmon didn't seem too threatening, to her. It was a metallic-blue spherical digimon with long segmented "wings" on either side of it, with two antennae-like ears, a small satellite dish object for a tail, and one large, shiny eye.

It blinked, and the clicking shutter noise could be heard again, as it began to float away from the roof it had been perched on.

"Quickly, we've got to destroy it before it gets back to Arch Angel!" Cadmemon yelled, her and Manimon already tearing off as fast as their legs could carry.

"What is it?" Laelapmon called, trying to chase after the others, not understanding the problem that presented itself to them.

"It's a camera, duh!" Cadmemon yelled, at the front of the trio of runners, "And we're NOT supposed to be outside of our tamer's D-Drives, what do you think will happen if we allow it to get back to Arch Angel and it shows it's maintainers the shots of us it took, messing around out here? They'll identify us and hunt down our tamers, and _take us away from them_!"

"Joey will get in so much trouble, ugh..." Manimon cried, biting his lip hard. He had every reason to be freaking out here, unlike Laelapmon and Cadmemon, Joey was an employee who lacked authorization to be allowed to use the key-word. He feared them both being caught... and more than being separated, he knew that digimon who were 'caught' were hunted down, and...

No... he didn't want to think about that, it was too depressing. Instead, he focused on the present; as long as they could find a way to catch the airborne menace and destroy it, they'd be safe. Joey would keep his job, and the others wouldn't be captured.

"How would they identify us, anyway?" Laelapmon yelled in response, though definitely still worried about this situation, her stomach feeling as though it were full of butterflies. "What if we just ran away from the city?"

"It's not that easy... every digimon born from Arch Angel is on record... even you, Laelapmon... the moment Amy left her imprint on you, the machine you were born in made a copy. It has you AND Amy on that register, like a police file... even if you run away, they'll know about Amy... and they can take back her PDA and track you with it... it's no use..." Manimon groaned, lowering himself to begin running on all fours, something he usually avoided because it made him feel awkward.

But there was no time to feel like that, this was serious, and if it helped him pick up speed, he had to do it. For Joey.

Laelapmon began to feel a sense of desperation, and tried picking up speed. She used her wind-based energy to push forward, and quickly found herself over-taking the other two digimon to get to the front.

Oculusmon had soared down low to avoid washing lines hanging across the alley way they were now chasing it down, and Laelapmon felt that if she jumped at just the right time, she'd be able to catch it...

She took the chance, and made a jump. However, just as she was about to sink her teeth into the Oculusmon's foot, the antennae rod within the dish suddenly pointed straight at her, a red beam aiming itself between her eyes- and a loud wailing siren noise accompanying a powerful series of waves firing out of the dish sent her crashing down onto the concrete.

With her ears ringing in a daze, she could see the blurry figures of Manimon and Cadmemon, forced to leave her behind in the bid to catch up with Oculusmon. She didn't blame them for leaving her behind. The last thing she would have wanted is to slow them down...

* * *

Now it had one less threat chasing it, the Oculusmon began to display a sudden burst of confidence, tormentingly dropping down to the remaining pair's level and then horridly flying up out of reach the moment one of them made a move to grab it.

It flew out towards the street, hovering high over the traffic, seemingly unseen by the pedestrians below. Manimon came screeching to a halt, unsure what to do. He'd be seen for sure if he ran out suddenly. He looked up to see the Oculusmon blink it's sole eye at them, taking yet another shot, as if doing it on purpose to make them feel powerless to stop it.

"Oh forget this, I'm crossing MY way." Cadmemon growled, using her shadow-warping ability to vanish in the blink of an eye, and go shooting through the shadows underneath the traffic, re-appearing on the other side of the road. Manimon could just barely see her climbing up the fire escape ladder to get up onto the roof.

The Oculusmon turned, and seemed to panic, slowly drifting backwards away from Cadmemon to get itself out of reach.

Manimon quickly found himself climbing up the fire escape ladder on the building just to his side, to reach the roof. Oculusmon was still floating backwards towards him, Cadmemon's 'trick' on the other side of the street having surprised it... Manimon intended to give it a further shock.

Cadmemon stared past Oculusmon at Manimon, having caught sight of him climbing up his side of the street, too. Her eyes widened in surprise as she saw him standing right on the edge of the roof; poised to jump Oculusmon.

The camera digimon slowly turned, having noticed Cadmemon was staring past it, now, and caught on all too late what the rabbit digimon had been planning to do.

"Maybe Cadmemon can't jump that far... but _I can_." Manimon smirked, launching himself off the edge, his strong legs propelling him forward, right into Oculusmon's face.

The floating digimon began to panic, flapping it's wings and shaking itself in a mad bid to rid itself of Manimon's grip, but the rabbit digimon managed to hold on tight, finding various grooves on it's back to keep a tight grip.

Cadmemon watched in horror as the pair began to arc high up over her head, and then begin a perilous nose-dive down towards a large, flat roof not too far from her. She began to dash after them, jumping gaps or using her ability when jumping would not have been possible in order to keep up.

She needed to help Manimon destroy that thing before it got itself free.

* * *

Amy had been holding Hiro's hand the whole time she'd been there, unmoving, lost in thought.

Quietly, she began to speak to him, whether he could hear or not... she just wanted to talk to him.

"Yesterday, a lot of things, happened... you could say I got to go on an adventure, myself... I made a new friend... I suppose, it's unbelievable, but..." she sighed, trying to stop her voice from shaking.

"Her name is Laelapmon... she's a Digimon. I thought at first she was merely data, but it turned out... she was as real as you and I, Hiro..." Amy felt herself giving his hand a little squeeze as she spoke, "I learned that Japan became home to... bad Digimon, ones so big and imposing that... I felt scared..."

She had been too nervous to look up from his hand, but now she found herself focusing on his face, wishing he could hear her voice, and respond... but this just wasn't possible.

"I rushed into things, because I was confused... but in some ways... I don't regret what happened yesterday, even if I had been so careless... and Laelapmon reminds me of you, in some ways... I suppose it's because I feel safe around her, and she's been trying to do her best, just for me... that's how you're like, too, isn't it?" she said softly, trying to brave a smile down at him, but found her lips beginning to tremble, and was unable to even force a smile.

Her cheeks, which had been cooled by the breeze from the window by his bed were warmed by fresh warm tears building in her eyes.

"Hiro... if you can hear this... please, if you can do this one last thing for me... please get well soon... I don't know how I could carry on with my life, without you in it..."

After another long silence, where she lost herself to her thoughts, she reluctantly began to pack up her bag where she'd gotten herself out a drink some time ago, and left the hospital. Her legs felt heavy and stiff from where she'd been sat down for so long, coupled with her reluctance to want to leave, but she had to get home and check on the digimon.

When she opened her D-Drive outside of the hospital grounds, however, her face fell; Laelapmon's location was nowhere near to being in the apartment, and Manimon was not there. On top of this, a cluster of five dots had appeared on the tracker, near to where Laelapmon was.

* * *

Laelapmon wandered about the city, keeping to alley ways and darkened streets where sunlight couldn't reach. She didn't want to be seen by any of the humans... or any more Oculusmon, if those were about.

Nervously, she headed further away from the noise of the main streets, ending up on another estate. She'd hoped it had been the one near to Amy's apartment, but she didn't recognize any of the buildings.

"I'm so lost..." Laelapmon sighed, sitting herself down underneath a bench, in a small park just outside the apartment blocks.

She stared out at the empty park, suddenly feeling very empty. This was the very first time she'd ever been on her own, and indeed, the first instance she would ever feel loneliness.

What had happened to the others? She'd tried to keep up with them after her fall, but they'd long since vanished. She'd darted out across the road, causing the oncoming traffic to blare their horns at her. Several pedestrians had gasped or called out on seeing her nearly get run over, and she'd just barely made it to the other side, and needless to say, the entire thing had left her shaken and anxious.

She wondered if they had stopped Oculusmon, and what Amy and Joey would say on finding out she and Manimon had gotten themselves involved in trouble, and been caught. She could feel tears building up in her eyes, images flashing through her head; Amy's disappointment in her for doing something so dangerous and stupid, strange darkly-dressed humans in suits coming and dragging her away from Amy...

She suddenly felt the need to look for Amy, and make sure she was alright. Her mind skipped back to earlier that morning, when Amy had been upset. It pained her even more to think she herself might be the cause of further sorrow for Amy, if the others hadn't managed to stop Oculusmon... and if that was the case... she had to find Amy, and spend perhaps her last moment with Amy, before she was taken away.

However, before she could get too caught up in these images, she felt a rough, green hand reach under the bench from behind her, and yank her out from under it by one of her ears, holding her up.

"'Ey, what's dis, 'ere? I fink we found ourselves a lost puppy, guys!" announced the Goblimon holding Laelapmon up painfully by one ear.

Another Goblimon reached out and grabbed her paws, and began playing with them in a silly way, though their tone and stares made Laelapmon feel very uncomfortable.

"I ain't never seen a Digimon like this one, she's yoo-neek, that's wot she is." the second Goblimon stated, with a horrid grin on his face, "She looks all weak and flimsy, eh, eh?"

The second Goblimon began to shake Laelapmon violently, like a rag doll, causing her to snarl and lash out, sinking her teeth into his hand.

"Let me go..." she snarled, glaring tearfully at the group of 5 Goblimon before her. They all sneered, apart from the one she had bitten, who glared back hatefully.

"You horrid little runt, I'll smack some sense into you, you show some respect to our posse, eh?" the next Goblimon spat, smacking his hand across Laelapmon's face, leaving a terrible looking mark on her.

Laelapmon hung limply in the first Goblimon pair's arms, dazed from the hard slap she'd received, before slowly and shakily looking up, glaring back at her assaulter.

"Sonic Boom!" she cried, charging up a shot of concentrated air in her mouth, before blasting the Goblimon in the face, causing him to go skidding backwards across the ground, trailing clouds of dust behind him.

"This 'un is a feisty one, I reckon we could sell her off to some Digimon needing labour..." the fourth Goblimon spoke, as the fifth ran to help his fallen comrade up.

"Yeah, I reckon we'll make a good profit off 'er, finally get some decent eats and some recognition from the big buy back home!" the first Goblimon replied, his second hand coming to grip Laelapmon's throat.

"What are you going to do with me?" Laelapmon managed to whisper, as she felt her air getting cut off, one of the Goblimon producing a strip of cloth as they began to gag her mouth, another getting a length of rope from a small bag of supplies one of the Goblimon had with him, tying her legs together.

"There's a crisis in the Digital World, and it's dog-eat-dog, puppy. You'll make us a fine profit with the strong digimon bosses controlling sections of the digital world that ain't fallen into chaos, once we sell you off as a slave to the highest bidder! There's a few that'd have you as a collector's item for your yoo-neek-ness, hurrhurrhurr!" the fifth Goblimon stated, as they finished binding her.

Amy suddenly appeared around the corner, looking out of breath.

"Get your hands OFF of her, leave her alone!" Amy yelled. There was a fallen branch from a tree near by she noticed, and hurriedly ran for it, feeling it would be wise to arm herself.

"Stop her!" one of the Goblimon yelled, as Laelapmon watched in silent horror, unable to move or help Amy.

One of the Goblimon dived at her, and grabbed onto her ankle, causing her to trip and land on her front, but she managed to just barely grab the branch.

Twisting as best she could, to get onto her back, she kicked the Goblimon attached to her leg in the face, causing him to shriek in pain.

A second Goblimon was trying to get a jump on her, but she managed to knock him away with the branch, however, Amy could not fight off all of them, and bar the one holding Laelapmon, the remaining four had now managed to disarm her.

Pulling her up into a sitting position, they bound Amy's hands and feet afterwards. The group searched her bag for anything edible and to cut off any means she could use to call for back-up, such as a phone or...

"What's this, then?" one of the Goblimon smirked, producing Amy's D-Drive, "It's got the reek of Arch Angel on it, and yet, it's got the smell of good old Digital World, too... whatever, we know where you received this piece of junk, and... what it means for dearest puppy, here..."

"So you're this puppy's precious 'tamer', I take it? Hah... that makes our special little friend the offspring of the scum Arch Angel. Let's show them what we think of Arch Angel 'Digimon'!" the first Goblimon called out, the tone between the group of five becoming darker.

The Goblimon group began to raise their bone clubs up, and in turn, take swings at Laelapmon. She tried in vain to attempt to dodge, but the heavy clubs caught her in heavier blows, whacking her about.

Amy screamed, beginning to tear up all over again, she had no idea what they had done to deserve this, especially Laelapmon... was Arch Angel so bad that her partner had to suffer from this cruel and brutal treatment? She didn't understand it at all... and her feelings of hopelessness made her cry harder.

"LAELAPMON! Please... oh god, please just stop this, you're going to kill her!" Amy shrieked, her eyes blurry from tears, unable to hold back on sobbing.

"That's the plan, eh? You humans are so slow to catch on, you know, princess." one of the Goblimon's taunted.

The cloth preventing Laelapmon from speaking had come lose, and she was able to weakly spit it out, gasping for breath. She looked so tired, and worn down, from being battered about. But there was a fire in her eyes, as she felt anger beginning to boil up inside of her.

"You made my partner cry..." Laelapmon murmured weakly, shifting slightly, as she struggled to get free. "I won't forgive anyone that... puts tears... in Amy's eyes..."

light and heat began to burn off of Laelapmon's body, illuminating up as bright as the sunlight beaming down on them from above.

The Goblimon began to panic, trying to grab and restrain her, but the light burned their hands to the touch.

The light around Laelapmon increased in size and changed shape, until a much bigger canine-like figure stood, towering over the entire Goblimon gang.

Amy couldn't make out any details on the glowing figure, but it reminded her, of when Manimon had taken on his own transformation...

The glowing figure raised it's head and howled out loud and clear, as cyan and lime green flames burst from around it, striking each of the Goblimon in the group one after the other.

" _FAERIE FLAME!_ "

Each of the Goblimon screamed in agony as the flames engulfed and burned them all apart until each exploded apart into glowing data, which the larger glowing figure absorbed. Gracefully approaching Amy, 'Laelapmon' bowed her head, gently biting the ropes that bound her tamer, which disintegrated at the big dog's touch.

The light began to lift from the figure, and slowly fade into particles, fading into nothing, leaving Laelapmon's usual small self behind... before the little dog collapsed from exhaustion, too weak to stand any longer.

Amy rushed over, cradling Laelapmon's head in her lap, tears spilling from her eyes once more.

She felt responsible for all of this, her partner's pain and suffering at the hands of the Goblimon gang.

"I'm so sorry... I shouldn't have left you on your own..." she murmured down quietly, stroking Laelapmon's face gently.

"Something happened... at the apartment, and I went out with Manimon... and then... when I got separated from him, I remembered how worried I was about you this morning, because you seemed so sad... and I tried looking for you..." Laelapmon replied weakly, closing her eyes tiredly.

"I don't like seeing you cry..."

* * *

Manimon was laying on his back, still clinging to the Oculusmon. They'd crashed down on the roof of a building near to where Cadmemon had been, and the flying camera digimon had been thrashing and wriggling about, trying to free itself from his grip. It's long segmented paddle-like wings beat recklessly against the roof below them, and it began to painfully drag Manimon over towards the edge of the building, desperately trying to escape.

Manimon managed to twist his body about, flinging the wretched thing over his shoulder, where it landed with a crunch on it's back, writhing about psychotically.

"Damn it, you've caused us enough trouble, I'm finishing you off!" Manimon growled, stamping his foot down on Oculusmon's eye, causing the glassy casing to crack under the power of the kick.

The large pupil seemed to shrink, as the rest of it's eye began to glow intensely, before it fired a charged beam into Manimon's face. As Manimon went soaring through the air, everything seemed to go into slow motion.

He could just see Oculusmon righting itself and spreading it's wings as Manimon vanished off the side of the building.

"This is it... I'm done for..." Manimon whispered, closing his eyes.

But something caught his foot. Opening his eyes, he sharply turned and stared at the human hands gripping hold of one of his feet, and then his gaze travelled up the stranger's arms, and he seemed to just notice the human that had saved his life, as the realization that he was still alright sunk in.

"Don't worry there, hun. We've got this covered." said the girl, who had black hair with sugary-pink highlights, with mismatched stripy stockings, and a mischievous look about her, or so Manimon thought.

"Isn't that right, Cheromon, honey?" the girl called, after pulling Manimon in onto the fire escape with her safely.

"Kuu-ii!" came a squeaky little voice above them.

"Boy you're heavy, you nearly clean pulled me off the fire escape with you!" the girl laughed, setting Manimon down on the fire escape balcony, leaning on the railings a little.

"Who are you guys?" Manimon spluttered as he caught his breath, before the pair took off up the stairway, towards the sounds of action coming on the roof

"I'm Neon, and my partner Cheromon up here is going to deal with your little problem for you, so don't worry any more, hun." Neon grinned, as they got onto the roof. "Arch Angel isn't going to find out about you."

"Crackle Bug!" squeaked the little white and yellow-coloured gremlin digimon before them, it's long claws sparking with electricity, as it jammed it's claws onto Oculusmon's face. The camera Digimon's body spazzed out, twitching and spasming, before it stopped moving, paralysed.

"Digi-Transfer!" Neon called out, holding out her gold-coloured D-Drive, as chains made of light seemed to burst from the screen, wrapping around Oculusmon, cocooning it's body in light, before shrinking it down and sucking it inside of the device.

"How on earth?" Manimon shrieked on watching this occur, "that's not something legit!"

"It's a hacked D-Drive with modded software." Cadmemon's voice said, causing Manimon to whip himself around to stare at her expectantly for further information. "But that's a secret only _members_ have access to."

"Hold on, do you lot know each-other?" Manimon asked, giving a suspicious look at all three of them.

"Yes, you could say, we're on a patrol." Neon replied in a casual off-hand way. "Just keeping the streets clean, as it were."

"Keeping the streets clean?" Manimon asked incredulously, feeling as though he and Joey's secret crime fighting idea had been 'stolen' from them.

"We fight off infected digimon, wipe records of digimon sightings off of Oculusmon when we can, rescue lost digimon that transferred through that came in peace, and return them home safe... that sort of thing." Neon explained, sitting on the edge of the building, swinging her feet off the side. "We've been doing this for a few years, now."

"A few years! I thought me and my tamer had all this under control?" Manimon spat, looking slightly furious that this 'digimon problem' had occurred for longer and more deeper than he had perhaps realized.

"Evidently not, bunny-boy. This problem goes deeper than you realize; the Digital World is killing itself, and you could say refugees are pouring out all the time. There could be a pocket of digimon pouring in as we speak, somewhere in Japan." Cadmemon sighed, sitting next to Neon.

Neon's D-Drive received a message tone, which she opened up and read through.

"Ah. It's time we went underground, guys. Cadmemon, your beloved tamer finished his patrol and wants us to head to the Rendezvous Point." Neon informed Cadmemon, in an otherwise mysterious sounding voice.

"You're leaving already? I still have questions!" Manimon called out, looking frantic. "You guys know way too much about this sort of thing, and I want to know what's going on!"

Neon got up and turned to face Manimon, heading over and leaning in-front of him.

"You're so adorable, sweetie. But there's stuff you're just not supposed to know. Just... take a vacation, spend time with your tamer and have fun, leave the 'digimon crime-fighting' to us, trust me, there's like an army of us, against you and your tamer's little twosome." Neon sighed, stroking his ears.

Manimon just couldn't accept this, however, and tried not to feel bitter about this. This was 'his and Joey's thing' together... and on top of this, it was important to Joey's research, and for Joey to realize his ambition, the sole reason he'd come to Japan in the first place, for what Joey wanted to do, Manimon had to become stronger. A LOT stronger. And this was the only way, to fight off digimon, and try to find answers to questions nobody except these people seemed to know.

Manimon sighed, and shook himself out of his thoughts, only to find that the other three had gone off.

"This isn't the last time we meet! I swear to the Sovereigns, next time, you're going to answer everything I have to ask!" he yelled out, even though he knew he would get no response.

Looking up at the darkening sky, he realized he had to get a move on and get back home, Joey would be leaving the office soon... on top of this, he suddenly remembered something he'd forgotten.

"ARGH! I have to find Laelapmon!" he shrieked, as he tore down the stairs as fast as he could.

* * *

Amy kept looking down at her D-Drive as she walked, heading for home. She'd stored Laelapmon inside, and kept checking at her health, which was slowly restoring over time.

She was in two minds on what she should do... she didn't want Laelapmon to keep fighting, because she hated seeing her get hurt, but at the same time, she was powerless to defend herself against 'wild' digimon, who could easily kill her, if they wanted.

Checking the tracker, she could finally see Manimon's icon coming into view, and decided she'd better get to him, before he got himself into trouble, too. Too many things had happened to her today, involving the ones she loved, for her to want any more people hurt.

After some time following his symbol, especially where at one point she'd noticed he'd turned about on himself and gone in a circle, she finally caught sight of him walking about an empty plaza.

"Hey, Manimon!" Amy called, running over to get to him.

"Amy... I'm really worn out, today's just been a really long day..." Manimon sighed, sitting down on the edge of a fountain he'd been taking a drink from.

"Tell me about it..." Amy replied, in a small voice. She checked Laelapmon's status for the umpteenth time, worriedly. Manimon peered over her arm at the screen, and bit his lip.

"Oh god... she looks in a bad way... what happened?" he asked, feeling immense guilt for not having had the time to stop and come back for her, due to the urgency of stopping Oculusmon.

"There were a group of goblin-Digimon... they had her tied up... I'd just gotten out of the hospital, when I noticed her icon on the D-Drive's tracker, and I knew something was wrong... she got beaten badly..." Amy sighed, gnawing on her finger tips, looking upset. "They really had it in for her, because she was a Digimon 'born of Arch Angel'... I don't understand, she didn't do anything wrong..."

"Arch Angel, again..." Manimon murmured, staring down at his reflection in the fountain water. "She was really worried about you, so I sat with her on the balcony. That's when we saw this black fox digimon, Cadmemon. We'd chased her, and helped her destroy an infected Apemon, but when I brought up Arch Angel, she got really aggressive towards me..."

"I can't believe all this happened, so soon after Centimon..." Amy sighed. She hoped this wouldn't become a recurring or daily event for them all... she wasn't sure if she and Laelapmon could keep up attacks on a regular basis. "I don't get what it is that Arch Angel is supposed to have done in all of this, but I don't think you or Laelapmon deserve any of this trouble..."

"Amy... whatever it is that's going on, me and Joey will find out about it. Joey is... actually doing research on Arch Angel, himself... I know that there's been shady dealings going on there, but for them to have an 'army' against them, something bad must have happened..." Manimon replied uncomfortably. "That Cadmemon, she and this girl I met, Neon, must be in some kind of group... they kept talking about things like an army, some crisis in the Digital World, saving the digimon... I don't know what it means."

"The Goblimon that attacked us said the same thing, too..." Amy sighed, slipping her D-Drive back into her pocket. "It's been such a long day... let's go home, Manimon."

"Amy... will you help me explain it all to Joey? I know he'll be really angry... I don't want to face him alone..." Manimon sighed, getting up. "It's funny, but it's the same with Laelapmon, too... I think, more than enemy Digimon, the thing we're most scared of is disappointing our tamers."

Amy stood up, and straightened herself up. She thought on what Manimon had said... and found she'd just never be able to hate or feel disappointed in Laelapmon, and that Joey must feel the same, even if he did get angry.

She decided that, tomorrow, she'd spend some quality time with Laelapmon, and tell her everything, so that Laelapmon wouldn't be left in the dark about things.

"Don't worry. I'll talk to him." Amy said, managing a small smile down at Manimon as they started walking in the direction towards home.

Both of them walked the rest of the way home in silence after that, lost in deep thought on the events of the day.

* * *

Somewhere underground, down a flight of winding stairs twisting down, deeper and darker under the streets of Neo Tokyo, a meeting was under way.

"We captured a Scoutmon over near the tram lines out near the southern bridge," a guy named Seth stated. He had black hair, and wore a black hoodie with an emblem stitched on the sleeve, the symbol of their group. "if everything goes according to plan, we'll be needing to organize a large meet-up with the other gangs, and ready ourselves for phase 2."

"Cadmemon eradicated the infected Apemon, and we managed to capture an Oculusmon." Neon said, holding out her D-Drive to the people before her. "It has some interesting footage on it that I think you'll enjoy, Seth."

"Oh?" Seth asked, kneeling down to pet and stroke his partner, Cadmemon.

"I saw two new digimon on the block. I don't know who their tamers are, but apparently, they killed Centimon." Cadmemon said, nuzzling in against Seth, affectionately. "Laelapmon and Manimon, a dog and rabbit. Manimon brought up Arch Angel a few times..."

"I see." her tamer murmured, before standing back up. "Neon, Cadmemon, Cheromon... I have a new assignment for you. I want you to keep track of them. It'll be no problem for me to find out who the tamers are, and stats on the digimon."

"Got it, Seth." Neon replied, hugging Cheromon against her chest. Her small child-minded partner stared up at her, smiling joyfully, and reaching his arms up to cling to her shoulders. "I'll find out everything you need about them."

"I first found them over near the Evergreen apartments, I'm going to start off there tomorrow." Cadmemon exclaimed, rubbing her head against Seth's leg adoringly.

"Alright. In the mean time, I'm going to extract all the footage off of Oculusmon, and then I'm going to run a search on Arch Angel's database... find out exactly who these people are and what their digimon are capable of."

And with that, the group descended down the stairs into the pitch darkness leading to Neo Tokyo's underworld.


	4. Episode 4. March of the Infected

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> To unwind from the previous events, the gang is coaxed into attending a concert to take their mind off of things, which leads to the forming of a new team...

# Episode 4. March of the Infected

* * *

The day after the incidents with members of the Resistance, and the Goblimon gang, Amy and Joey had set aside an evening to talk together.

"I'm still bothered by all this." Joey sighed, pouring himself and Amy a cup of tea. "About the Resistance..."

"Do you know anything about them?" Amy asked, stroking Laelapmon's ears. The little dog digimon was laying across her lap prodding at a cuddly toy Amy had given to her to play with.

"I don't know much. I had no idea that they do patrols, and that they're taking Oculusmon from off the streets, either. I'm in a low-tier position, so they don't tell us much. Everything I've heard has been from rumours." Joey sat down beside Amy, and passed her one of the cups.

"Thanks." Amy sighed, taking a sip. "So what are the supposed rumours?"

"They've got hackers on board, and supposedly have tried hacking into Arch Angel servers. They haven't successfully breached, but some of the higher-ups have been both edgy over this, and come under fire from the boss of arch angel himself, Hal Becker. He's not been happy at all, as you can imagine. He's running one of the biggest technology companies of Japan, and distributes products all over the world, and they're getting under attack from script-kiddies. Some of the system operators got fired; whatever it is the Resistance want to see, they're trying repeatedly to snoop around high-security stuff." Joey paused a little, taking a deep drink of his tea.

"What could Arch Angel be doing that warrants so much hatred from the Resistance and wild Digimon?" Amy asked, looking down sadly at Laelapmon. She wasn't going to forget the attack any time soon, and thinking about it made her stomach turn.

"I don't know. I've... been trying to find out myself, actually..." Joey started, turning his cup around in his hands slowly. "I've tried digging around, but I have to be so careful... the higher-ups are always keeping a beady eye on the rest of us... even the agents, too."

"Arch Angel has _agents_?" Amy inquired, giving Joey a worried look. "Why do they need agents?"

"I'm not sure. All I know is that they're men in suits with big guns and strong Digimon. They're all stationed about like security guards." Joey sighed. "They keep everyone in the 'right' places. I don't know how far their access into Arch Angel goes, but..."

"I hate the agents!" Manimon started, standing at the doorway. Joey had grounded him to stay in the other room as punishment for leaving the apartment and getting into big trouble and almost getting them all caught, but the little rabbit couldn't be kept grounded for long, it seemed. "They're so full of themselves, and hoity-toity gunslingers with oh-so special superstar Digimon! They're all so full of it!"

"Manimon, you're grounded, you're not a part of the conversation." Joey sighed, though he already knew he was going to lose this.

"Tough luck, Joe, I made myself a part of it now." Manimon grinned, waltzing out of the bedroom to climb up onto the table and steal an apple from the fruit basket.

"You sound jealous." Laelapmon called to Manimon, as she rolled onto her back. Amy stroked her tummy, and Laelapmon giggled a bit. "That tickles!"

"I am NOT jealous!" Manimon growled, half tempted to throw the remains of the apple core at Laelapmon, before Joey grabbed it from him and threw it into the bin. "What Digimon in their right mind wants to be some super-strong combat-master... who gets all the girls... and..."

Laelapmon poked her tongue out at Manimon's increasingly reddening face.

"Mister Manimon, you're a terrible liar, and a green eyed monster..." Laelapmon stated, licking Amy's fingers affectionately, her tail wagging.

"Alright you two, that's enough of that. Laelapmon, you'll upset him!" Amy said, but couldn't refrain from smiling. Laelapmon had recovered and was coming more out of her shell, which made her feel a lot better.

"Actually... I wonder..." Joey sighed, rubbing his chin slightly.

"Hm?" Amy murmured, looking over at Joey. He was pacing about back and forth in his open-plan kitchen, in deep thought.

"Nothing... it's not important." Joey replied, vaguely. "Oh, Manimon wanted me to get tickets a while back to see that one idol singer, Marina. Would you like to go with us? J-Pop isn't really my thing... but Manimon really loves it. You could use a fun night out, and Laelapmon too."

"I don't know..." Amy replied. She didn't want to impose on him and Manimon.

"Well, it's not for another few days yet, so you've got time to think on it. No pressure, though. But you and Laelapmon could use some time off from the stress of recent events." Joey said gently.

"Would you like to go, Laelapmon?" Amy asked her partner, ruffling her ears a little.

"I don't know what an idol or J-pop is, but it sounds like fun. If Manimon likes it, then it must be really madcap." Laelapmon commented, looking over at Manimon.

"Madcap? It's energy, high energy, cuteness, bounciness!" Manimon began... before degenerating into fan-boy babbling, getting very hot and flustered, as he hugged one of the sofa cushions tightly to his chest. "Cute, cuddly girls... soft girls... ehehehe... pretty, frilly dresses... I collect all the merchandise, you know... I'm in Marina's fan club... ehehehe..."

Laelapmon whimpered slightly, as she watched Manimon roll back and forth on his back across the sofa opposite them, until he fell clean off onto the floor.

"I think Manimon is broken!" she squeaked, whimpering softly.

"No, he's just completely obsessed with Marina. Her music, and her appearance. He's really into all that crazy idol stuff." Joey sighed, rolling his eyes behind his glasses.

Meanwhile, just outside on the balcony, the tamers and their digimon were completely unaware of a microphone on a long lead slowly getting pulled back up onto the roof.

* * *

"Oh boy! Did you hear all of that, Cadmemon?"

Cadmemon was sitting beside Clefmon, a small bird digimon wearing headphones, and a snazzy belt, and pink and white plumage. The two had been sitting on the cold roof all evening, with Cadmemon grumbling occasionally about the chilly air and increasingly darkening skies.

"I heard the important stuff about Arch Angel. Did _you_?" Cadmemon asked her companion, prodding Clefmon's chest with her paw.

"They're going to see Marina! Oh, oh, ohhh, I'm so jealousss~!" Clefmon squealed, clasping her claws together, "We're following too, aren't we? Aren't we? Please say yes!"

"Ugh! Clefmon, this is NOT what Seth sent us here for! We need to find out what kind of people these tamers are, what side they're on... that Joey sounds like he might not be as straight-edge as we thought..." Cadmemon stated, scratching her ear a little.

"Well, I don't know either, but anyone that likes Marina can't be a bad guy!" Clefmon giggled, swinging her legs where she as seated on the edge of the roof.

"And Laelapmon and Amy seem like they're still neutral... so in short this requires more investigations..." Cadmemon said, thinking out loud to herself, mostly, but Clefmon quickly gripped onto this and went with it.

"So that means we've gotta follow them to the concert!" Clefmon asked, getting more and more pumped up, as she gripped hold of the fox Digimon's shoulders. "Right?"

"W-Why not continue investigating when they're at home? Why does it have to be the concert?" Cadmemon replied, leaning as far back from Clefmon as she could, before the bird digimon pressed her beak against Cadmemon's nose.

"Let's see how they are in a social situation! Seeing how they act in a public place around strangers might give us a better insight!" Clefmon squeaked insistently, before rubbing her beak and Cadmemon's nose together almost in an Eskimo kiss. "And we want a better insight, don't we? To assess if they're a threat to the Resistance, or potential allies!"

"...You scare all the data out of me, sometimes, Clefmon..." Cadmemon sighed, looking drained of energy all of a sudden, something which occurred frequently with the energetic bounciness that Clefmon so readily displayed.

"So, I just have to find out the time and date that they're going, and we're all set~!" Clefmon giggled, rubbing her claws together excitedly. She lowered one of her three microphones down below onto the balcony, and then pinched the wire, altering her voice to imitate Laelapmon's voice perfectly.

"So, Mister Joey, when is the concert, and what time are we all going~?" Clefmon asked, in Laelapmon's voice, which the mic mysteriously threw out, unable to hold back most of her excitement.

Laelapmon jumped up in surprise on hearing her own voice talking, when she hadn't said a word, though nobody else in the room noticed.

"Oh? It's going to be this Friday coming, at 7:45pm. You seem a little excited, Laelapmon!" Joey commented with a little laugh, not understanding why Laelapmon seemed a little jumpy.

"Huh?" Laelapmon whimpered, staring all about herself distrustfully, before going towards the balcony. Just as she peered out, she was too late however to see the microphone disappearing up the side of the building.

"Aww... she's suddenly so restless... she really can't wait to go. Then, I guess it's settled. We'll come with you, then." Amy decided, smiling warmly.

Manimon went whooping and hollering around the entire apartment in his own fan-boyish excitement, whilst all poor Laelapmon could do was sit, head tilted, in confusion.

* * *

The skies continued to grow darker, as time continued to endlessly tick away. People coming through the park over the course of the day were now dwindling down to little to any visitors at all.

Eventually, someone came by and locked the gates leading into the park, and went on their way.

This didn't stop Barghestmon from entering, though. He slipped through between shadows to get onto the other side of the high fencing, and was now free to inspect the park uninterrupted by human passer-bys.

He studied what he could see, his bright red eyes giving him superb night vision, as he scanned every bush, bench, pathway and fountain for what he was keeping an eye open for. And it wouldn't take him long to find it.

He could feel it. The feel of data... it sent chills through his spine, as though it were calling him forward. The presence of a Digital Gateway was faint, but there. He'd felt it as he'd been passing by, and he had to be sure.

Skulking through bushes towards a large locked up tool-shed the park keeper likely kept all of his tools in, Barghestmon could see it; the growing, newly formed portal of light that linked places between the Real World and the Digital World. At the moment, it was no bigger than a cat flap, but there was no doubt that it would get bigger over the coming days.

He would need to set up base, and keep watch over it... the only way to deal with Gateways was to play the touch-and-go waiting game.

* * *

The days rolled past relatively quickly. Joey had gone on as he always had, getting his work schedule done, and Amy had been doing her assignment, which was related to spending time in Japan, and that was to write about her experiences, any culture shock she felt, the culture in general, and all the sights she'd seen.

Each night was spent mostly with their digimon, and each-other. They'd watched movies together, chatted together a little, and just generally taken it easy after the all the fights they'd been in, and considering that more battles would likely follow, wanted to spend the time they could relax and lead ordinary stress-free lives as best they could.

And before they knew it, Friday was on them.

"Tonight's the night!" Manimon shrieked, sliding across the kitchen floor on his knees. "I'll get to see Marina, live, in person!"

"Calm down, calm down. It's only a concert." Joey sighed, as he washed up the plates from dinner.

"Only a concert?" Manimon yelled, bouncing from one foot to the other, shaking his fist.

"Oh no..." Joey muttered, pausing to cover his ears.

"It's the special concert with her newest single and I get to see Marina Takahashi in person, and with the backstage pass from the fan club I'll get her autograph a-and a photo, a-and...!" Manimon erupted, soon going off on a tangent, his eyes sparkling and face changing 50 different shades of red, from frustration at Joey's supposed 'ignorance', and his own excitement.

"...and now, if you're done trying to destroy my hearing..." Joey sighed, after Manimon calmed down. "anyway, there's one problem with that, and that it's Amy getting the photograph, and the autograph. You and Laelapmon will be going in your D-Drives, remember?"

"Sovereigns be damned!" Manimon sighed, his eyes watering up a little. "Damn it... I hope Amy is grateful to be meeting my idol!"

"Don't talk like that, Manimon, or I won't let you go. Show some respect for once, eh?" Joey said, his tone turning very stern and serious, which made Manimon jump slightly.

"S-Sorry... I just get a little..." Manimon breathed out, " _obsessive_..."

"Oh, I already knew that..." Joey sighed. He grabbed some paracetamol and a bottle of water, since he could sense this evening would likely give him a headache.

Amy knocked on the door, and when Joey answered, Manimon let out a sharp whistle.

"You look good, Amy!" Manimon commented, his paws on his hips.

"Your hair looks nice down." Joey commented, himself. "So, you and Laelapmon are ready?"

"As ready as we'll ever be." Amy replied. She'd let her hair down, and was wearing a blue top with sequin butterflies stitched on the front, and dark blue jeans with black boots with heels, making her look a little taller than she usually did. "You ready, Joey?"

Joey nodded, "just getting my coat." He'd decided on wearing otherwise smart-looking clothing which he normally saved for special occasions, but Manimon had spilled ketchup on the ironing rack and ruined his favourite clothing. "I feel awkward, going out in this..."

"It looks really smart, though." Amy commented, as she straightened up her bag. "All that's left is to set up the D-Drives and get going."

Manimon and Laelapmon were stored in their respective D-Drives and put away in Amy's bag, as everyone headed out.

On Joey's balcony, a certain microphone was getting hastily pulled back up onto the roof once again.

* * *

Joey and Amy boarded the train, and grabbed seats, unaware of the two digimon spies tracking them. Clefmon was holding onto Cadmemon's tails, with Cadmemon using her shadow-walker ability, and both were practically seated behind the tamers.

"So Joey?" Manimon spoke up from his D-Drive, which Joey was now holding. "You and Amy never told me how you both met?"

"Oh god, there's so much stuff we never got around to talking about with them, due to everything, and what with my assignments, I completely forgot..." Amy started.

Though, that being said, she'd made a start on telling Laelapmon things, like the truth about being in Japan... about Hiro. It had been hard to talk about, but she'd made the resolve to do so, and Laelapmon had been so supportive... but this was only a little piece of Amy's life that Laelapmon now knew, and on looking down at her partner in the D-Drive, she could see she was eager to know more.

"Do you two have a... you know..." Manimon grinned, " _history_?"

Amy's cheeks reddened slightly, as she shook her head. "Oh goodness, no! Not at all, a-at least, not in the way I think you're implying..."

"I studied World History under Amy's dad, particularly, I was trying to learn more about the world before the world was almost destroyed, and the mythology surrounding what nearly wiped out humanity." Joey explained, giving Amy a little smile, covering for her during her moment of being caught off-guard by Manimon.

"My dad teaches at a college back in England, where we both came from. Joey would come around after the courses were done, and he'd hang out with my dad and ask questions or get help. My dad loved having him over." Amy grinned, wringing the hem of her coat a little. "Me and Joey met that way. On times my dad was out, Joey would help me with my own homework, or we'd just play games for a bit."

"You're studying to be a journalist aren't you, Amy?" Laelapmon spoke up, peering up inquisitively. "From what I've seen on your assignments at least..."

"Yes... I'd love to travel the world, and write about it. Like Joey, I want to find out about the disaster , when it happened, and why. A lot of us are hoping to find answers... the world is changing." Amy explained at the digimon inside the D-Drives.

"Yes... actually, in regards to that, my grandfather took up work here in Japan under Arch Angel. It was pretty major, he oversaw some high-security stuff..." Joey began.

Cadmemon was now on the edge of her seat, listening intently, her ears trained on Joey to catch every word he was saying.

"One day, though, they just phoned me and told me he went missing." Joey continued, his expression a solemn one. "Gone, just like that. He'd not turned up to work in weeks, someone went around to his house... no signs of him having been there at all..."

"So this is why you came to Japan and got a job at Arch Angel...?" Amy asked, biting her lip a little.

"Yes... I wanted answers. I've searched the employee database... and he's not on it, been completely wiped. I know the higher-ups in the company outside of Becker have the identities kept secret, but this... it didn't feel right." Joey stated, turning to look at them. "And this brings me back, yet again, to why I wanted you to have a partner as soon as you got in Japan, Amy."

Amy was positive she knew what he would say next.

"Ever since Digimon began showing up in the real world, people have started going missing..."

Amy felt slightly sick again, biting her lip a little harder.

"Of course..." Joey continued, "there is no proof at all that Digimon are responsible for people vanishing. People vanish all the time, across the globe... sometimes they're found, and sometimes they're not... and I know, I know it seems really 'out there', but nobody had motive to just take my granddad. He lived in a modest little house, to strangers, he'd just look like your typical old man, going on his business... he lived quietly, and kept to himself. That's why I think something happened, something involving Digimon, because the people I've asked act like he was never working at Arch Angel, when he was... even the police don't know what's going on."

There was a short and awkward silence between everyone, even for Clefmon, whose eyes had watered up a bit and was burying her beak into a tissue. Cadmemon's ears were pinned back, feeling a little guilty for her treatment of Manimon previously, now that she knew the truth.

"That's so horrible, Joey... I'm sorry..."Amy murmured, after a short pause. She felt bad now, the thoughts of the concert forgotten.

"No, I'm sorry... this was supposed to be a fun night out for us, and I spoiled it..." Joey sighed, rubbing his forehead slightly.

"We're not there yet, so there's still time to turn things around and have a good time." Manimon called up to them, "Joey... I promised I'd help you find answers, and we will, one day, you'll find the truth."

"I'll help in any way I can, Joey..." Amy said, trying to give him a reassuring smile. "We'll get answers... we'll find out what happened."

"Thanks." Joey said, managing a little smile. "Alright... tonight, let's not dwell on the things that are worrying us. Let's try to have fun." He watched Amy carefully, as he said it.

"Mm-hmm." Amy nodded, as the train came to a stop. "Oh, this is our stop... I bet Manimon can barely contain himself!"

Amy had guessed correct; Joey had managed to press the mute button just in time before Manimon's fan-boy squealing could be broadcast to the entire carriage.

And with that, everyone, including their two spies, got off the train.

* * *

Cadmemon and Clefmon ended up breaking off from following the tamers, heading off to the car park around the back of the concert hall.

"Jeez... so this is why he's working for Arch Angel...?" Cadmemon commented, still looking a little down. Clefmon had cheered up immensely on reaching the concert hall, and was chirpily humming one of Marina's songs as they stalked past people, unseen in the shadows.

"Stop brooding!" Clefmon chirped, patting Cadmemon's back.

"I can't help it, Clefmon... to think, Arch Angel would cause pain even for it's own employees..." Cadmemon sighed gloomily, before Clefmon pulled her back and squeezed her tight.

"'The world is changing', that's what that girl Amy said, right? Let's change it again, for the better! For the humans and the Digimon~!" Clefmon chirped, rubbing her beak against Cadmemon's cheek. "Oooh, I might have to write a song about that, actually!"

"Changing the world isn't easy... changing people's perceptions is even harder." Cadmemon sighed, slumping down into sitting position, after Clefmon released her from her hold.

"Stop being such a pessimist, foxy lady~! Anyway, we've got to meet Neon around the back here, so keep a look out!" Clefmon pulled Cadmemon back up, and they continued on ahead, with Clefmon humming away pleasantly.

Eventually, around behind a thick green hedge, they found Neon waiting for them.

"So, how did you two get on with your little spy mission?" Neon grinned, stroking their faces gently as they came up. "Hey, Cadmemon, you look a little down. Everything OK?"

"...Y-Yeah." Cadmemon murmured shakily. "I'm just a little tired, that's all."

"We found out lots and lots of stuff about Amy and Joey!" Clefmon squeaked, spinning around on one foot, before clasping her claws together. "I don't think there's anything to worry about, really! I'll write up a report when I get home."

"So, do you have business here, or something?" Cadmemon asked, noticing Neon looking over the car park to the concert hall.

"Not really, I figured since Clefmon and you were getting a train coming by this way, I'd meet you here... actually, Seth let me print off a bootleg ticket, as a little reward for you guys hard work. I'll grab you Marina's autograph, Clefmon. Seth's got a reward for you back at the base, Cadmemon." she grinned, ruffling Cadmemon's ears, whilst Clefmon danced about ecstatically behind them.

"Yaaaay! I'm going to get my idol's autograph!" Clefmon squealed, skipping in a circle around Cadmemon, who simply sighed.

"I just can't wait to get out of this place and get back to Seth... _he'll_ make me feel better I'm _sure_." Cadmemon sighed, rolling her eyes at Clefmon's antics.

Neon wasted no more time in heading off, blending into the crowd. Marina's fans were all dressed in brightly coloured clothing, and Neon shuddered a little at seeing fully grown men standing around carrying cameras, hurriedly trying to cram inside the hall in a bid to see their idol.

But there was something else of importance she had to see to inside, and it wasn't Marina.

* * *

"You're not coming in with us?" Amy called over the loud chattering of the crowds surrounding them.

"No, J-Pop isn't really my thing. I'm going to the bar... I'll see you when you come out." Joey yelled, as he handed her Manimon's D-Drive. "Remember to keep him on mute!"

Amy giggled slightly as she went through into the stage area to get to her seat by the front. She was positive if she unmuted him now, his fan-boy screaming would easily drown out the crowds and be heard from outer-space. Sitting down, she sat Manimon and Laelapmon's D-Drives into her coat pockets so they could inconspicuously watch the stage without drawing too much attention to themselves.

When it was time to perform, the lights dimmed down, the crowds quietened down... only to break out in cheering from her fans when she came on stage- the idol, Marina Takahashi.

* * *

Joey sat down at the bar, and ordered a drink, lost in thought. He'd wondered if he'd perhaps made the right decision, on the train of all places, to bring up about his grandfather... but Amy, and Laelapmon, deserved to know what it was he was doing there. He was positive if it had upset them, they'd be hopefully cheered up after the concert.

"This seat taken?" came a female voice from behind him, and turning, he looked on the stranger that approached him.

She was a young woman, around 20 or so, with black hair with pink streaks, wearing mismatched striped stockings and black boots. He had no idea that this woman was the same one that had saved his partner.

"No, it's free." Joey said, watching as she sat next to him. "It was going to cost you to sit there, but I was feeling charitable and let you off." he grinned.

"Oh, you little tease, and here I was thinking you were going to let me sit here scot-free." Neon grinned back. "So, what's a fun guy like you doing at the bar, instead of having a great time in the staging area?"

"heh... J-Pop isn't really my thing." Joey replied, still watching her from the corner of one eye. He wasn't sure, but this girl was giving him a strange sort of feeling inside, but he couldn't place his finger on it.

"You seem like you'd enjoy rock music, but that's just me." Neon smiled, ordering herself a drink.

"Wow, you'd be right, there." Joey replied, tapping his fingers on the counter. He decided to put off thinking about his grandfather for the moment, it was a rare opportunity he got to socialize much due to otherwise always making himself too busy for it, let alone socializing with a girl around his age.

"Lucky guess~" she replied, in a musical sort of voice. "I love rock music, myself. So, aside from music, you got a name?"

"It's Joey. Joey Sawyer." he extended his hand out to shake hers, but noticed she hesitated slightly.

Neon's gaze was hidden behind her shades, but she'd recoiled slightly from surprise, though not enough for it to have been obvious.

"ah... well, I'm Kaede Yamamoto." Neon replied, shaking his hand. She'd used one of her numerous 'civilian identities' she used when above ground.

"So, you like rock music then?" Joey asked, turning back to the discussion of music, as the bar-tender brought them their drinks.

"Yeah, love it. I used to be in a band." She commented, sipping some of her drink.

"I used to have a friend in a band, too... I've not kept in contact with her, lately..." Joey sighed. He was half-way through his drink, which he'd ordered gin and tonic, and wondering if perhaps he should've bought something a tad stronger.

"A Lady-friend, hm?" Neon asked, resting her chin on the back of her hand, running her finger around the rim of her glass.

"Yeah, but we're not together, or anything. She's just a close friend is all." Joey murmured, thinking about the girl he'd left behind in the search for the truth of his grandfather's disappearance.

"I see. I'm not 'together' with anyone, either." Neon stated, "I'm trying my hand at getting back into music, though. You got a job?"

"Yeah, I'm doing an apprenticeship at Arch Angel for a year, if I do well, well, I'm hoping they'll keep me on." he finished off his drink, sliding his now empty glass across the counter towards the barkeeper.

"Any good working for them? I know they sell a lot of computer and technical goods. You must be really smart to get a job with them, right? I'm sure you'll get taken on full-time." she smiled, leaning against the bar casually.

"I hope so... kind of got a lot depending on it." Joey sighed. He didn't elaborate on it, but it meant everything to him, or so Neon felt, from his expression.

"Listen, it's getting a little crowded in here. Do you want to go some place quieter?" she asked, paying for her drink, before standing up. "There's a quiet little coffee shop just across from here, should be a lot quieter without all these fan-boys crowding around."

"Sure." Joey replied, and after paying for his own drink, he started off out with her. He had nothing better to do, and he was quite liking the company of this strange girl a lot. It looked like tonight might just offer him some relief after all.

* * *

Barghestmon shifted slightly, where he was laid down in-front of the Gateway. He'd been resting for a while, having been keeping a watch on the Gateway for a few days now, nothing had come through, and though weary, he was exhausted from watching it the previous night, when he'd sworn there had been some activity through the other side.

Not every gate that opened got bigger, and sometimes, even big portals didn't always toss through wild Digimon, but he never dared walk away from one.

He slipped his eyes closed for a moment, where he desperately wanted to sleep, but he felt duty-bound to keep watch... and thanked every god under the sun he had stayed awake.

Because suddenly, countless Gekomon were erupting from the portal of light before him.

Jumping to his feet, he roared out his attack, trying to drive them back through.

"MAUTHE PYRE!" he roared in a booming voice, black and red flames leaping from his mouth, a wall of fire bursting up in-front of himself and the portal, which outright slew the first swarm of Gekomon pouring through, but now, there were hundreds, with groups attacking back and clambering over his body.

The big dog's body soon became alight with flames, all the small shrieking frog-Digimon clinging to his body going up in flames and exploding into a shower or brightly coloured particles, which Barghestmon then absorbed into himself, loading their data.

And he then realized, in horror, that there were too many of the damn things pouring out of the Gateway for him to stop them on his own.

He ran ahead of the swarming Gekomon, which flooded and over-ran everything they came across, jumping the fencing around the park, which Barghestmon was unable to prevent. There came a loud crashing sound behind them, before their leader forced the Gateway wide open... and ShogunGekomon made himself known, crawling out of the portal, and lumbering after his subjects, crushing the fencing flat, all the whilst ignoring Barghestmon.

The black dog chased after the stampede, throwing out fire left and right, snapping and crushing Gekomon within reach with his powerful jaws, as he ran with them. Looking up, he realized what this mob were running for...

The concert hall in the distance, which was full of hundreds of vulnerable people. They were attracted to the sound!

* * *

Amy was still buzzing from the energy. Marina had certainly blown her away with the energy, though Amy had perhaps thought the music had been a bit too bouncy for her liking, it had certainly cheered her up. She'd understood most of the lyrics, though some of the faster parts had been a little bit slurred and she hadn't caught on some of the lyrics, but she'd enjoyed it none-the-less.

"Try not to get TOO excited, Manimon, but it's time for us to head backstage." Amy murmured down at Manimon, as she straightened herself down.

Manimon looked like a balloon about to pop, he was all puffed up and looking ready to just about explode from glee. Laelapmon was wagging her tail, looking very wide-eyed and alert.

"That was a lot of fun, Amy. I think I like J-Pop!" she called up.

"I'll have to let you listen to some of my CDs of the bands back in England, you'd like them too, Laelapmon." Amy commented, as she headed towards a squealing cluster of fans, some teenage girls around Marina's age, and, rather creepily, some older men, who by the look of them, didn't look like the girl's fathers.

"Jeez... I forgot that idols have a lot of creepy adult fans, too..." Amy thought aloud to herself quietly. Marina's songs had been typical 16 year old stuff really aimed towards that sort of crowd, up to mid-twenties, but these men looked much older. It made her nervous to be in the same sort of crowd as them.

"Alright, come on through." called out one of two bodyguards, who began ushering everyone through the side round the back towards the backstage area, where Marina would be signing their autographs, and having her photo taken with her adoring fans.

However, on getting there, the singer was nowhere to be found.

"...excuse me." said the second bodyguard, as he walked off just out of earshot, talking into a walkie-talkie.

"I reckon she's done it again, you know." one of the girls murmured to one of the others.

"She does this often, doesn't she? She did this at the last concert, didn't she? And one of the ones a while back. That's terrible of her! Doesn't she care we paid extra for the backstage passes, just to see her?" the second girl piped up.

"Aaaah, that's so cute..." one of the older male fans at the back commented, "Marina, so tsundere, she must have stormed of in an adorable rage of cuteness!"

"O-oh, or she might be timid and sweet and shy, too overwhelmed by us, her loyal fans, to be able to face our love for her!" commented the second older male fan.

"Amy?" Manimon whispered up, looking worried. "Where's Marina?"

"I don't know... I think she's bailed out on her fans..." Amy replied quietly, keeping her voice low. "She's apparently prone to running off on them, and she's vanished off again..."

"w-what?" Manimon swallowed, feeling as though his dreams were being shattered, "but we came all this way... I've been waiting for such a long time... I-I save all of the f-fanclub newsletters..."

"Please don't cry, Manimon..." Amy murmured, starting to break away from the group of fans more.

"Amy..." Laelapmon whispered up nervously, "I think you need to see this..."

Amy peered down at her own D-Drive, where Laelapmon brought up the tracker automatically, and Amy had to force herself not to cry out in horror.

Approaching the concert hall were countless dots, coming straight for them.

Without hesitating any longer, Amy ran out of the concert hall as fast as her feet could carry her, dialling up Joey's number on her mobile phone.

* * *

Joey finished off his next cup of coffee, with him and Neon having sat back and relaxed with otherwise mood-setting music. He'd found himself subconsciously sitting a little closer and closer to her over time, and she'd been looking at him intently all evening.

"This was nice." Neon said, smiling at him, with a look in her eyes that seemed to draw Joey in.

"I... I'm glad. This was a great evening." he commented, his heart beat quickening in his chest a little.

"Joey... maybe you'd like to, I don't know..." she began, resting her hand a little on top of his. "meet up for coffee again, some time...?"

He stared at her in disbelief, but didn't pull his hand away. Something about her was bringing something inside of him back to life, something he'd had to swallow down and forget about for a long time, and he just couldn't place his hand on it.

"...Yes. I'd like that, if that's alright with you." he asked, his voice becoming a little quieter, as he felt his cheeks slowly beginning to flush red.

Neon smiled. She thought his sudden shyness was cute. Reaching for a napkin, she wrote down her mobile number and slipped it to him.

"Call me whenever you feel like having company." she said softly, just as Joey's mobile went off, disturbing their moment, and causing both to sit up straight.

"I'm sorry, I have to take this call." he sighed, after checking the caller ID and seeing Amy's name flash up.

"It's fine, go ahead." Neon replied, leaning back in her seat, folding one leg over the other casually, all the whilst watching his expression as he answered the phone.

"This is bad... hundreds of digimon on the tracker... coming for the concert hall.." Amy called, breathlessly. "wh-where are you? I'm in the car park..."

"Stay where you are, I'm coming now." Joey put hung up, hurriedly getting to his feet. "I'm sorry, some thing's come up. I promise I'll phone you when I'm available... it was a pleasure meeting you, Kaede."

Neon watched Joey hurry out of the coffee shop, and not long after, got up and followed, opening her D-Drive up, and pressing onto Cadmemon and Clefmon's names.

"Cadmemon, Clefmon, are you two still in the local area? I might need some help."

* * *

"I want you to find her, and bring her right back! What does she think she's doing, running out on an autograph session? Darren, I swear to god, if that girl doesn't start keeping her head in the game, I'll find another girl to replace her!" came the angry voice of Marina's manager down the phone, nearly blasting Darren's ears clean off.

"Yes sir. I'm right on it. I'll bring her back as soon as I find her." Darren replied calmly, before putting the phone down.

"Let me guess... that was a certain manager of mine?" Marina sighed, as she and Darren started off, where they'd ran out of the concert hall together.

"Yes, angry as all hell that we did a runner again." Darren replied, looking over at her. He'd been Marina's personal body guard for a few years now, and both of them were prone to vanishing off at the drop of a hat from anything from meetings, to rehearsals, to, like tonight, being forced to ditch her fans.

"If this keeps up, I'll lose everything... they told me I only have one shot at this. But after picking up all those dots on the tracker..." Marina began, as she reached into her bag to produce a dark blue D-Drive, "I couldn't let you face that many Digimon on your own."

"I appreciate it. After all, the safety of everyone comes before ourselves, in these cases." Darren commented, getting out his own dark green D-Drive.

"That's right. Alright, the sooner we stop these guys, the sooner we can get back and face the music, I guess..." Marina sighed, wishing that her manager wasn't as short-tempered as he was.

"Denimon, Elfinmon, we're ready!" Darren yelled, as Gekomon started showing up around them.

"Yo, yo, yo! We're good to goooo!" Denimon cried, jumping over the top of a car, and coming sliding across on his slippery reptilian feet to land next to Marina. He was almost as big as her, herself, and was a blue dinosaur-like Digimon with a sail of sorts on the back of his head.

Elfinmon descended down from above, his wings beating as he high-fived Darren on touching down on the pavement. He was a furry green Digimon with long bat-like ears, big leathery wings, and a bushy tail.

"I went on ahead, Darren, and there's whole stacks and stacks of Gekomon coming right for us!" Elfinmon informed his partner, a mischievous look on his face.

"You could go crowd surfin' on them and it'd feel like a real wave!" Denimon grinned, nuzzling against Marina's leg.

"Gekomon is a champion level digimon though, right?" Marina murmured, looking down at her D-Drive at the oncoming swarm. "We're going to need to digivolve you both for this..."

"This'll be tough, it'll be our two champions versus all of them." Darren muttered, flexing his arms a little, "can we handle something like this?"

"We'll have to, for the sake of all the people still in the concert hall that could get hurt..." Marina replied, bracing herself. "They'll be in sight any time soon now..."

"Heeeey!" came Amy's voice from behind, causing the singer and her bodyguard to turn in surprise.

"Marina Takahashi, right? It's not safe out here," Joey started, breathlessly, "You need to get out of here!"

All four tamers seemed to pause and take in each other for the first time, properly, and notice the Digimon at each other's sides.

"I know it's dangerous out here." Marina said, after the shock had passed them all, "It's imperative we fight off the threat. Although I'm shocked at there being other humans with Digimon out here, can I ask for your co-operation?"

"Yes, there'll be plenty of time for explanations later, right now, we have to stop the swarm. You did say it was Gekomon, didn't you?" Joey asked, looking worriedly at the streets ahead of them, strange frog-like noises and raspy voices being heard ahead as the swarm was coming within earshot.

"They're the champion level... I hope your digimon are ready for this..." Darren yelled, as the sounds got louder.

Rushing forward, the tamers and their digimon partners raced to stop the Gekomon that were now tearing through the streets towards them.

"Digivolve!" Marina yelled, as everyone's D-Drives reacted and beamed out bursts of bright, white light.

"Manimon, digivolve to..."

Light wrapped around Manimon's small body, as the shape changed and grew bigger, drills forming over his hands, his ears flopping down and ending in the oversized exhausts, and his tail transforming into an electrically charged turbine.

"DVERGAMON!"

"Elfinmon, digivolve to..."

The otherwise small bat-earred digimon grew bulkier and bigger, gaining webbed fin-like ears in place of his former long bat-like ones, swirling brown markings appearing on his legs, and a thick flowing brown tail, before the light subsided, and his transformation was complete.

"ELVERMON!"

"Denimon, digivolve to..."

The blue dinosaur-like Digimon's body changed, becoming more human-like in body shape. Light-weight armour began to appear around him, with skin-tight dark navy blue water-resistant arm coverings, dark navy blue baggy jeans with watery patterns down the legs and a red breech cloth with a water-based insignia, and a helmet reminiscent of ancient ones, adorned with fin-like attachments, and fluffy red hair. The light subsided, and he held up his large guan dao pole-arm in readiness.

"MARINEMON!"

three strong-looking champions now stood where the rookies previously had, after their digivolutions had taken place, the shimmering light leaving their bodies.

But Laelapmon was still a rookie.

"W-What's wrong? Why didn't she digivolve?" Amy called, looking panic-stricken. Laelapmon was staring at the coming swarm like a deer caught in the headlights, her own digivolution having gotten so far before breaking apart, as though it had cancelled itself.

"I don't know, but we don't have any time! Amy, run for it!" Joey yelled, as the three champions began to initiate their attacks against the swarming Gekomon.

Amy grabbed hold of Laelapmon and tried to run, as the sounds of battle took place behind her. She couldn't believe this was happening again... Laelapmon's digivolution had been incomplete during the Goblimon attack, too, only appearing as a bright white silhouette-like form of what she would have supposedly become.

"Breaker Blade!" yelled Marinemon, who cleaved through multiple Gekomon with ease, carving a path onwards for her. "Don't stop, keep going!"

"T-Thanks..." Amy gasped, as she caught Dvergamon getting jumped by at least 10 of the croaking menaces, before his drills burst through a few of them.

"Quickly, this way!" Marina called, suddenly by her side. She started guiding Amy over towards an alleyway, where both girls proceeded to duck down as a mob of Gekomon dashed past.

"I feel useless... Laelapmon can't digivolve..." Amy explained, her voice trembling slightly with worry, where she couldn't figure out why her partner was having so much trouble. Cuddling Laelapmon to her chest, she began to edge back up the alleyway to give Marina more space.

"It's alright... we'll try to keep you covered..." Marina replied, trying to give Amy a reassuring smile, before quickly looking back around.

Elvermon was smashing through the rampant torrent of livid Gekomon like nothing could stop him, with Dvergamon and Marinemon continuing to cleave through their numbers and being met with little resistance.

Suddenly, the gigantic red ShogunGekomon burst through, knocking over some trees from nearby, as it came tearing straight through towards the concert hall- with Barghestmon attached, biting into it's shoulder.

"Barghestmon!" Amy cried, her heart feeling as though it would stop at any moment.

"Is that Digimon a friend of yours?" Marina asked her, staring up at the big black dog's attempt at fighting off the Ultimate level Digimon, "he looks like he needs help..."

Stepping out, Marina whistled, to get Marinemon and Elvermon's attention. Both Digimon responded to her and held off, as she yelled over the noise.

"Marinemon, Elvermon, help that big black dog with the big guy! He must be their leader, or something!" she yelled.

All of a sudden, ShogunGekomon stopped, as if only just realizing his position. His eyes were glazed over and distant, and his stare fixed onto Marina in a way that sent shivers down her and Amy's spines. Then, all of a sudden, in a loud bellowing voice, it blasted out a loud tune that caused all of the Gekomon to turn and stare back at Marina.

"Marina!" Darren yelled, from across the street, where he and Joey were taking cover behind some parked cars. "What's going on?"

"I don't know!" she yelled back, as she felt a sinking feeling beginning to take ahold of her.

"It's your voice..." Barghestmon barked, still gripping onto the side of ShogunGekomon's shoulder, his claws digging in as deep as they could go, though the bigger digimon did not seem to feel it, or visually be reacting to it, as it was still focused on Marina. "They heard all the noise from the concert hall... they heard all the energy being pumped out by the music and singing..."

"T-Then that means..." Marina gasped, as her face seemed to drain of all colour, the Shogun and his subjects suddenly making a mad dash towards the alleyway she and Amy were taking refuge in.

"Marina, run!" Darren yelled, as everyone seemed to rush into motion.

The idol singer ran out from the alleyway, running down the street as fast as her legs could carry her, ShogunGekomon tearing his way through his own shrieking followers to catch up with her. His shadow fell over her small form, as though the sky itself was darkening, his clammy webbed hands reaching for her body...

"Don't you DARE lay a hand on my Marina!" screeched Dvergamon, as his turbine tail blazed up with full power and sent him rocketing into the ultimate level's side, drills first.

ShogunGekomon was knocked down onto his side, which sent tremors up and down the overflowing road. Marinemon, Dvergamon and Barghestmon aimed all of their combined attacks into the the big frog, in a unified effort to destroy him completely.

"Mauthe Pyre!" Barghestmon barked, his flaming breath quickly engulfing all up one side of his big foe.

"Breaker Blade!" Marinemon yelled, deftly slicing away through the Shogun's thick fat.

"Mjolnir Megaton!" Dvergamon cried, piercing through the giant Digimon's sides with his twin drills.

All three digimon watched ShogunGekomon explode apart, showering them in red data bits, which all the champions absorbed a share of. Elvermon had been keeping Marina and Amy covered.

Laelapmon jumped out of Amy's arms, as the others quickly resumed finishing of the Gekomon, who seemed almost vaguely lost looking without their Shogun. She began to try using Gale Blades against them, but she seemed so disheartened, the blades did not properly form. Amy tried to stay close to her partner, but the Gekomon began to pile up around her, pushing her back.

Marina grabbed ahold of Amy's arm, as they took cover behind Elvermon.

"Stay behind me, I'll keep them off our backs!" the swampy beast digimon stated, lashing out at any Gekomon daring to get too close to them with vine-like whips.

* * *

Neon had been watching in the bushes, with Cadmemon and Clefmon by her side. Her gaze was locked on Joey and Dvergamon, who were getting completely boxed in by the oncoming mass of Gekomon.

"...I can't get involved in this... but it would mean the world to me, if you helped that man and his partner out." Neon said quietly, fiddling with the sleeve of her jacket.

"You know Manimon's tamer?" Cadmemon asked, looking up at the brightly-coloured girl's face in curiosity.

"It's just... personal, to me. Please help him, you two..." Neon sighed, holding Cadmemon's paw and Clefmon's wing. "I feel terrible, but I don't want him to know I'm a tamer... not just yet."

Cadmemon was curious and intrigued to learn more about Neon's supposed connection with Joey, but was jolted out of her thoughts as Clefmon suddenly tugged her out through the bush.

"Leave it to us, Neon! We'll save them!" the pink bird digimon called out cheerfully, before launching her attack at the Gekomon.

"Prismatic Feathers!" she sang, which caught the Gekomon's attention. Multicoloured feathers that streamed through the air in a graceful arc came raining down on their heads like a rain of arrows, leaving shimmering light trails behind them on descent. The feathers embedded themselves into the ribbeting mob's bodies, exploding apart in bursts of colour.

Joey took note of the path way being violently blasted open for them, and made a run through.

"Hey, there's a clearing for us to get through, come on!" he yelled to Darren and Dvergamon, who quickly followed.

A couple of times, Gekomon were nearly on Joey, reaching and grabbing for him, only for a deep inky black puddle of shadow to open up beneath them and tug them down out of sight, trapping them in the concrete, as Cadmemon kept them covered.

By now, the Gekomon numbers were dwindling down, until only a few remained. Marinemon and Elvermon had been fighting their way with the tamers over, with Laelapmon offering support when she could. She'd been unleashing as many Gale Blades as she could, but was getting fatigued and starting to lag behind the two champions.

"Laelapmon... please don't push yourself, we've almost got them now..." Amy murmured, hurriedly picking her partner up as everyone kept moving, both she and Marina shielded either side by Marinemon and Elvermon.

On finally rejoining with Joey, Darren and the other Digimon, Barghestmon managed to finish off the remaining Gekomon with a final Mauthe Pyre.

The humans and their partners, after regressing back to their rookie stages, decided to get out of the street, and get to a quieter place. Barghestmon began leading them towards the park, which was now under cover of night. Cadmemon and Clefmon had broken off long before, vanishing off elsewhere, which had irked Manimon to no end.

"I bet they did this! The Resistance!" Manimon growled, pounding his fists together.

"It wasn't them." Barghestmon intercepted, staring down sternly at Manimon, "the Gekomon and their leader came through a Digital Gateway that was in the park. But the Gateway seems to have closed up, now..."

"Gateway?" Joey asked, wiping sweat from his forehead, where he had grown tired from all the dodging and weaving and running about.

"Woah, woah, woah. Hoooold up." Marina interrupted, holding up her hands. "Start from the beginning, please. We want to know what's going on here, you know?"

"Yes, we're kind of lost on this." Darren added, "Gateways, Resistance... all of it. We knew about Digimon attacking the city for a long time now, but all this is new to us."

"I will not get onto the subject of the Resistance... now isn't the time or place. But I'll tell you about the Gateways, and how tonight's battle even started." Barghestmon said, as everyone headed through the massive hole in the fence that ShogunGekomon had made.

Once everyone was seated on a bench, Barghestmon got comfortable in front of them, resting down. Laelapmon and Elfinmon were the only two digimon in the audience paying attention, since Denimon had taken a fascination with Manimon's tail and kept trying to nibble on it, with Manimon uselessly swatting at his face. Barghestmon ignored the pair of them and got started.

"That whole wave of Gekomon and their boss came through a Digital Gateway which opened up in this very park." Barghestmon began, "Likely, they heard the music, and the singing, coming from the Concert Hall, and went in a bee-line for it."

"Why weren't they exactly attacking back?" Joey asked, "Aside from after we killed the big guy, they rarely put up much in the way of a fight..."

"You're joking, right? That was an insane amount of champion-level Digimon in one area," Marina interrupted, looking at him incredulously. "We've fought off a few Digimon before, but nothing as ridiculous as that!"

"They were all infected with the Primal Virus." Barghestmon replied, bowing his head slightly. "From my own experience witnessing these things, I've come to the understanding that the virus starts as follows; first, the Digimon begins acting out of character, though still retaining a lot of their sanity and willpower. Next, as it progresses further, they may start becoming reckless. They tend to stop feeling pain, and might focus on things to the point of obsession, like a mania. In this case, ShogunGekomon and his followers were focused on music, which is something the species is universally known for. Because they might not feel pain, even though they're being attacked even brutally, it's like they don't notice their attackers until it's too late."

"God..." Marina murmured, reaching for Denimon and pulling him in close. She hated to think, if their partners were in threat from this, themselves, what the out come would be.

"And gradually, over time... they lose themselves to it entirely." Barghestmon continued, his expression a solemn one"They might start becoming delirious, and with whatever remains of their speech, tend to babble up garbled things, like memories, or recalling past conversations or the like... and in the final stages, they lose the last remaining shreds of their sanity, and go into a pure blood-lust, fuelled by the desire to kill. Everything and everyone becomes an enemy."

"And what about the Gateways? Why are those appearing? How, is someone opening them from the other side?" Darren asked, looking just as concerned as the other tamers present.

"I'll try to explain it in a way that might make sense, since it's... difficult." Barghestmon sighed, shifting slightly in his space. "All the infected Digimon are rounded up, regardless of the stage of progression of the virus, and put into quarantined sectors within the Digital World. Imagine it like this; each quarantined sector being like a paper bag. And you keep putting more and more things in, until the whole bag struggles to contain the sheer amount of things placed within it, until..."

"It splits apart..." Amy murmured, clinging anxiously to Laelapmon's body. Laelapmon seemed to lower her head down, feeling hopeless.

"Exactly... Yggdrasil, the being that manages and oversees the entire Digital World is under a lot of strain... it tries to shift these Digimon to an area that doesn't 'exist', so to speak, another area of the Digital World that isn't there, and the Digimon inside these sectors get thrown out through a Gateway."

"Which can open in the human world..." Manimon sighed, folding his arms, "I didn't think things were as bad as that..."

"Oh, they're terrible all right." Denimon commented, still eye-balling Manimon's tail as though it were cotton-candy. "I was sucked through one, and ended up in the real world ocean, it's how I met my beloved Marina!"

"Quit ogling my tail!" Manimon hissed, before he was hit by a wave of jealousy, that Denimon got to spend each moment with his idol, and decided that he and Denimon weren't likely to get along.

"Pay attention!" Barghestmon barked, which caused Denimon and Manimon to both jump, "you two can screw around in your own time!"

"S-Sorry, Barghestmon..." Manimon mumbled, backing right up into Joey's legs.

"S-Scary..." Denimon whimpered, completely wedging himself under the bench everyone was sat on, his head hung in shame.

"Anyway, I'm still studying the portals, there's still a lot of things I'm keeping check on... though there is a lot of things still a mystery to me, such as the origins of the virus, why it was made, what purpose it all seems to play." Barghestmon sighed, bowing his head low.

"But this whole virus thing, how... affected... is the digital world?" Joey asked, wringing his hands slightly.

"I haven't been back to the digital world for a few years, when I was last in it, it was bad. At least 25% of the surface of the world was infected. I fear it might be as high, or at least reaching, 50% now... if things continue like this... we may lose the Digital World to this threat..." Barghestmon sighed, looking agitated. "There's teams of Digimon working across the entire Digital World as we speak, trying to find ways of stopping it, or driving it away, but once it has a hold on you, it's impossible to fight off for very long."

"And if there is too much over-crowding... the real world might get over-run with Digimon..." Marina breathed, shaking slightly. "After the disaster that happened nearly a thousand years ago, what with the world changing, do we even stand a chance, letting that happen?"

The humans shifted about uneasily, this news did not bode well. There was still extreme cases of poverty throughout the world, even there in Japan, and many countries were still being rebuilt, salvaged or moved, to escape being ravaged by the sea.

"This has to be stopped, for the sake of both of our worlds." Barghestmon said, after a moments silence. "Which is why I believe it would be best, if you four could team up, and help defend yourselves and this place from being dragged under by those who would seek to otherwise completely annihilate you..."

After this, Barghestmon stood up and bid his fair-wells to everyone.

"Anyway, it is late, and I have kept you long enough. The next time we meet like this again... I will tell you what I know about the Resistance. But for now, think about what I said. I can't force you to become a team, I can't force you to fight for the many people that live in this city, but there may come a time when you have no choice." and with that, the big black dog began heading off.

"I'll find you in future, to see what your decision is. Until then, take care of yourselves."

The four humans remained silent for a long time, each seemingly letting the situation presented to them sink in. The silence was broken by Denimon and Elfinmon beginning to have brotherly roly-poly play-fights behind them.

"Denimon... please don't... this isn't exactly a good time for that..." Marina sighed, looking exhausted. She felt conflicted. She had her 'career' ahead of her, and was already walking on thin ice with her manager, and she was almost certain if she ran out of another show, she'd be fired, and her dreams would go up in smoke... but if she didn't fight for the safety of things, she felt as if she might as well give up on the dreams, if the future of the real world was really as at stake as Barghestmon had said.

"Marina..." Denimon murmured sadly, standing straight on his hind legs, and nuzzling her shoulder. "You've all got us Digimon by your sides, you know, we'll keep the city safe!"

"Yeah!" Elfinmon agreed, as he perched over Darren's shoulders, resting his chin on top of his tamer's head. "That doggy-dude is smart, he'll help us!"

"I know this has all been short notice, and we've only come together like this tonight, but..." Joey began, "well... I'm all for forming a team. And if we can find more tamers willing to fight along with us, people who are aware of the risks, I mean..." he paused, thinking about the amount of people who had 'digital assistants' and were unaware of the dangers facing them all, "People like us, you know? With partners, who actively go out and fight. If we could assemble a bigger team, we might just stand a chance."

"We already stand an advantage in some ways, though. Sure the infected Digimon get strong over time from the virus... but we can Digivolve!" Manimon grinned, pounding his fists together, "That's our upper hand on this, right?"

He completely missed Laelapmon wincing from his words, where her Digivolution had utterly failed to complete, for the second time. She turned away from the group, and sat away from them, shuddering slightly, the feeling of hopelessness and her low self-esteem starting to surface more strongly.

Amy bit her lip and tried to think of something to say... but she couldn't. Joey picked up on this, but decided against bringing it up around the others.

"It already takes a lot of pressure off of us, having another two people and their digimon around." Darren commented, standing up. "Well, I'm all for this, anyone interested in forming a team-up for the sake of Neo Tokyo, come forward now."

Darren held out his hand, with Joey not hesitating to place his hand on top.

"I'm in. I've always been in on this." he said, smiling.

Marina stood up next, dusting herself down a little. She decided her dreams would have to wait, and that the needs of the many outweighed her own ambitions.

"I... hope you realize that I am risking my dreams of becoming a proper musician aside, for this. And I don't mean that in a bad way... but I want to focus on what's important, and that means security for the city comes first." managing a brave smile, she placed her hand on top of the boys hands.

"You've always put other people's safety first, Marina... that's why you keep risking your career. Don't feel like you have to give up on things just because we're doing this." Darren said, nodding at her.

"Nobody has to give up anything, this is why we're becoming a team." Amy murmured quietly. She'd been hesitant to come forward, because of her worries about Laelapmon... and whether Laelapmon still had the heart to keep going, when she knew her partner's spirit was low. "So... we can cover for each other... if someone can't make it, we have people who can still fight... if someone falls, there's still three of us around to pick them up. I'm in."

And with that, the last tamer placed her hand forward.

"Alright, I think we've got ourselves a small team!" Darren grinned, folding his arms. "So, I think we should put aside some time to get to know each other, since we'll be meeting up more often in future, you know."

"I agree. When is a good time for us to meet up?" Joey asked, looking at the other three.

"I'm free from work over the week-end, Saturday and Sunday are good for me." Marina said, looking up at Darren, "Darren works with me, so he'll be free on those days, too."

"Alright, we should pick a good spot for Saturday, then." Joey said, already with a place in mind. "Actually, there's a nice little coffee place across from the concert hall... how does 12 o' clock sound?"

Everyone in the group collectively agreed on the time and place.

"That sounds good!" Denimon called up, "I like hot chocolate!"

"You goof-ball, we'll be inside our D-Drives in public!" Manimon muttered in exasperation, his paws on his hips.

"Inside our D-Drives...?" Elfinmon asked, looking confused.

"I didn't know that was even possible..." Marina stated, peering down at her D-Drive. "All this time, we had to have them hide some place close by, if we'd known about that sooner, we could've avoided a lot of... messy situations."

"You didn't buy PDAs?" Amy asked, looking confused. Aside from colours, their D-Drives all looked identical.

"No, what's special about the PDAs?" Darren asked, "We got D-Drives after our partners came to us themselves... I saved Elfinmon from some trouble a few years ago, and suddenly, it just appeared in-front of us, like a glowing light..."

"Same here, except Denimon had saved me..." Marina murmured quietly, rubbing the top of Denimon's snout, as he earnestly nuzzled his nose against her palm lovingly. "Did you get yours a different way?"

Now it was Amy's turn to feel a bit disheartened. Their meetings had been drawn together, as if by fate. She felt as though, if she had not gotten herself a PDA, then... she may never have even gotten a partner in the first place. Laelapmon, sensing this, seemed to force herself out of her own feelings of inadequacy, and pressed herself against Amy's legs, resting her front legs across her lap.

"Amy... I could feel it, in another place, wherever it was I came from... I was destined to meet you, too..." Laelapmon said softly, looking up worriedly. "It doesn't bother me where I came from, even if the other Digimon hate us for it... all I know is... it doesn't make what we have any less real... you're still my partner, Amy... you don't... doubt me, do you?"

"Oh god... that's not it at all, I don't doubt you at all, Laelapmon..." Amy murmured quietly, as the other tamers continued talking amongst themselves about the origins of their D-Drives, "I just felt like, if Joey hadn't taken me to get a PDA... It scared me, to think things may have changed... how I could have completely passed you by, and you would have been waiting, maybe forever, for someone that wasn't coming..."

"I still don't believe that... even if Mister Joey hadn't come with you, I still think we were as destined to meet as any other tamer and Digimon... okay?" Laelapmon commented, gently licking Amy's hand. "I'll... I'll try harder to be more useful to you and the team, in future..."

"Don't force yourself to Digivolve if... if it hurts you, Laelapmon..."Amy replied, "I'm sure we'll find out why you couldn't reach your next stage... so don't you worry, either, OK?"

"Okay, Amy..." Laelapmon sighed, resting her head in her lap. "...I love you."

"And I love you too, Laelapmon..." Amy murmured, stroking her head, smiling warmly.

"Well..." Joey spoke up, after he had instructed Marina and Darren on how to store their digimon away inside of their D-Drives, "That's settled then. Oh, and before we forget, how could we even think of leaving without properly introducing ourselves? I'm Joey Sawyer, and this is Manimon."

"I-I-I'm y-your biggest f-fan!" Manimon spluttered, suddenly all weak at the knees. He'd been hoping and praying ever since the fight finished to get a chance to talk to her, "W-We'd come to s-see your show... I s-so wanted your autograph a-and p-photo..."

Marina burst out laughing, finding his behaviour positively adorable.

"Wow, I don't think I've ever had a Digimon as a fan before... I'm sure something could be arranged on Saturday!" she said, which set Manimon off squealing in his fan-boy way, rolling back and forth across the floor in ecstasy. "Going by that knowledge, you probably know who I am, being that you were at the concert and all, but... I'm Marina Takahashi, and this is my partner, Denimon."

"I'm the blue ranger!" Denimon squealed, wind-milling his arms about energetically, "I fight crime and stuff!"

"You're a weirdo!" Manimon growled, snapping out of his fangasming enough to fling a small pebble into Denimon's nose.

"Hehehe! I made the bunny angry!" Denimon giggled, seemingly unphazed by getting hit by a small stone in the nose. "That's my _other_ super power."

"And I'm Darren Scarlet, Marina's bodyguard, and this is my little green partner, Elfinmon." Darren commented, nudging Elfinmon with his foot.

"Huh? Oh right!" Elfinmon squeaked, as he'd been busy pawing at Darren's shoe laces. "I'm Elfinmon! Me and Denimon are beeeest friends!"

"Great..." Manimon grumbled, "that's two Digimon I'm putting on my hit list..."

"Did you say something just now?" Joey asked, shooting a glare down at Manimon, which made the little rabbit jump in fright.

"N-No! Nothing! P-Please don't hurt me..." Manimon squeaked, backing off, to the point he bashed into Laelapmon, causing her to whimper slightly.

"Careful!" Amy cautioned them, helping both Digimon back up. "And lastly, there's me and my partner. I'm Amy Hughes, and this is Laelapmon."

"It's been lovely to meet you all." Laelapmon barked, bowing her head politely, before gently pushing Manimon back over for constantly knocking into her when nobody was looking.

"Hey!" Manimon shrieked, rubbing his squashed tail sorely.

"Alright. It's gotten very late, and the next time we meet up, we'll have more time to discuss things in future. We should think about heading home." Joey sighed, picking Manimon up onto his feet again by hoisting him up by his ears.

"My eeaaarrsss..." Manimon sobbed, rubbing them afterwards.

"Yes... me and Darren need to head back to the Concert Hall... I'm sure my manager has a four page-letter screaming fit waiting for us." Marina sighed, as she stored Denimon up in her D-Drive with the Digitize command.

"Sorry if we held you up," Amy apologized, rubbing her arms from the chilliness of the night air.

"No, it's fine. This was more important, anyway. We learned a lot of things regarding the situation in the Digital World, and formed a team... it's nice, knowing there's other people with partners out there, fighting for the same causes. Whatever stuff my manager is going to yell at me about... well, I don't regret coming out here, that's for sure." Marina said.

"Anyway, we'll catch you on Saturday. Be seeing you." Darren called out, as he and Marina bid goodbye and began heading back to the Concert Hall.

Amy and Joey headed off towards the train station to catch the train home.

* * *

"Is something bothering you?" Joey asked Amy, once they got home safe and sound.

"It's just... Laelapmon's digivolving problem. It's really getting to her... I don't know what's wrong." Amy sighed, slumping down on her sofa tiredly.

Laelapmon was currently inside the home terminal, tidying up Amy's desktop and organizing her files for her neatly.

"I'm going to look into that at work. Especially since Marina and Darren said about how they got their D-Drives outside of Arch Angel's distributions. It makes me suspicious... of Arch Angel, I mean. On the outside, our D-Drives all looked the same, bar colours, but it makes me wonder if... our D-Drives are bugged... well, more specifically, yours." Joey sighed. "Because I'm an employee, I actually received my PDA, a 'business model' and Manimon at the actual work place, and we have no trouble digivolving, though that being said, I'm technically not supposed to know about digivolving at my current... position."

"I think I can see where this is going..." Amy replied, sitting up slightly, "Do you think they like... I don't know... put a lock on digivolving, on the consumer's models?"

"Yes, that's exactly what I think has happened... but now comes the bad news... I don't have the knowledge on how to remove that lock... and on top of this, I don't have access to the machines that deal with the hardware and software side of things at the office..." he sighed, staring over his own D-Drive. "So Laelapmon will probably not be able to digivolve correctly until I figure out how to bypass the lock..."

Amy swallowed slightly, feeling a little down over this. She wanted to be able to help as much as Laelapmon did, but with the bigger threats, if Laelapmon wasn't able to digivolve... how useful could their help possibly be?

"I wonder if Barghestmon would know about it..." Amy sighed. More than ever, she wished she knew how to contact him.

"He said he would help train our digimon, too... I don't know what he means by that, or when he plans on doing it..." Joey muttered, glancing off to the side.

"In his defence though, he'd said he had things to check up on... and he'd been watching over that Gateway, as well as having been trying to fight off all those Gekomon by himself..." Amy reasoned, shifting a little in her seat. "He did say he'll contact us when he's ready, though..."

"Well, I'm ready whenever he's able." Joey sighed, standing up. "Anything to make defending ourselves easier. If we can't defend ourself properly, how can we even expect to defend other people?"

"I guess..." Amy sighed, rubbing her arm sheepishly.

"Anyhow, I'm going to get some shut-eye. I'll see you in the morning." Joey commented, heading off back to his place.

After seeing him off, Amy yawned, bid goodnight to Laelapmon, who had fallen asleep against the trash can icon on the desktop, and headed off to bed.

* * *

Joey couldn't seem to get to sleep, his thoughts keep constantly going back to the girl he'd met in the bar, and how it had made him remember back to the girl he'd had to leave behind on coming to Japan in search of answers.

"Damn it..." he muttered, turning on his side.

All the feelings he'd tried to swallow down and forget about, knowing that coming to Japan meant he had to sacrifice a chance to be with her. He'd done it for the sake of his grandfather, and had left without even confessing his feelings to her... or even telling her goodbye.

But meeting 'Kaede' at the bar had made that surface again. He suddenly had the urge to want to contact her, and see how she was... if she didn't hate him by now.

Getting out of bed, he wandered towards his computer, and loaded up his personal non-work related emails... and looked up her address. He could still remember it, as well as her, though it had been a few years since they'd last spoken. She'd emailed him constantly, and he'd not replied... he'd found it too painful to. And now he regretted it.

He sat staring at the blank message, racking his brain to think of something to say.

_"Hey, I know we've not been speaking much for a long, long time.. I'm really sorry. I didn't forget you... or what happened, either. I hope you're doing well... I just wanted to say... I'm sorry. I'm sorry I didn't contact you sooner._

_I'm not expecting a reply... just wanted to tell you that I still care._

_Thinking of you._

_-Joey."_

He sat, going over things in his head. He wished he could have had the guts to face her back then to tell her he was leaving... she would probably delete the message, if she hadn't already changed her email address, that is. But he wanted to get it off his chest.

He hit send with no regrets, and went back to sleep, desperately trying to take his mind off of everything bothering him, considering that tomorrow, he and the others would be meeting up together for the first time as their newly formed team.


	5. Episode 5. The Astral Project

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The new team meets up for proper introductions, and discuss the problems facing the world. Manimon manages to get himself into major trouble at work as he meets his match against two Agents and their digimon partners, as elsewhere, Hal, head of Arch Angel, checks in on his secret project... later, Manimon is visited by a very strange kid...

# Episode 5. The Astral Project

* * *

Darren and Marina were already sat down in the cafÃ©. They'd arrived earlier than they needed to, and came in disguise. Marina was wearing ordinary, plain clothes, nothing fancy like she was expected to wear to events or on stage, just a simple hoodie pulled over her head, with a small pair of shades.

Darren was wearing shades as well, and a plain shirt. Both of them looked like normal, typical people having a mid-day snack. Sighing with relief, Marina finally loosened up a bit and relaxed, resting back against her chair. She decided to pull her hood down, revealing her favourite 'lucky blue bandanna' she always wore outside of work.

"Thank goodness... there was a guy staring at us earlier, I was paranoid he recognized us..." she sighed, taking a sip of the hot chocolate she ordered. Denimon was peering around excitedly from inside her D-Drive.

"Oooh! Lots of higgledy-piggledy puddings and pies! Waaaahhh...!" he clapped his claws together, eye-balling the menu, "Marina, my itsy-bitsy-betty-boo, can't I have one? Pleeeeaaassseee?"

Marina sighed, knowing that it would be impossible to order anything for their digimon in a public place.

"I'm sorry, Denimon, but you can't... you need to stay inside the D-Drive in public, now..." she replied softly, pressing her finger against the screen, which he attempted to lick, even though she wouldn't feel it. "But at least you don't have to follow us around in the bushes any-more... and I'll buy you something sweet on the way home. Just have some patience."

"I liked hiding in the bushes!" Elfinmon commented, "Me and Denimon like to roly-poly around and play tag, or chase pigeons, or..."

"...Or steal things from the markets. You two are definitely not going unsupervised again." Darren sighed, raising an eyebrow down at the two digimon, who both grinned cheesily up at their tamers, trying to look innocent.

"I wonder when Pup-Puppy and Fluffle Bunny are coming?" Denimon asked, bouncing up and down on the screen, "Mister Bunny had a yummy tail, like cotton candy..."

Marina and Darren both seemed to look up at the door subconsciously at the same time, as if wondering the same thing. This was to be their first official meet-up, after all, and the circumstances hadn't been a normal one, that was certain. Both tamers thought about the swarm they'd had to fight off, the big dog digimon that had helped them, and also set this partnership in motion.

"I'm sure Joey and Amy will be here soon, with Manimon and Laelapmon." Marina murmured, in no surprise that Denimon was so excited, since her partner had always been overflowing with peppy energy.

"Are you nervous, Marina?" Darren asked, taking a bite out of a doughnut. Elfinmon and Denimon stared up at him enviously, with watering mouths. Denimon was salivating so hard it looked like his screen was slowly filling up with water.

"A little... there is still a big task we're taking on..." she sighed, stretching slightly. "But it's a step on the ladder... and I'm sure we'll find more people like us to add to the team."

"That's the spirit." Darren replied, nodding in agreement. "Considering how popular PDAs are, there's surely others who know the truth..."

They peered around the cafÃ©, noticing quite a few people on PDAs, with their 'Digital Assistants' doing things like giving them weather and news updates, or playing games.

"I think so, too... especially with the... what was it called... Resistance?" Marina said, drinking some more hot chocolate. A droplet splattered over the screen, which poor Denimon tried to lick off uselessly, before she cleaned the screen off with a tissue.

"Aw..." Denimon sniffled, with big wet-looking eyes. "No fair..."

"What he said..." Elfinmon added, making goo-goo eyes up at the two tamers, who chose to try to ignore the cuteness.

The cafÃ© door swung open, briefly letting in the noise from the traffic outside, and a whoosh of cold air, as the awaited pair entered inside from the street. Both Amy and Joey looked a little breathless from a very brisk walk from the station.

"Sorry we're late!" Amy called, causing both of the seated pair to look up. She and Joey were just coming in from the street, "The train was a little delayed..."

"A little?" Manimon's voice shrieked from Joey's D-Drive, "If I was that driver's boss, I'd sack him, then re-hire him so I could sack him again!"

"Alright, Manimon, calm down. What do you want, an Oscar?" Joey sighed, rolling his eyes as he and Amy grabbed two seats at the other pair's table.

"Mister Manimon, why don't you yell a little bit louder? I'm not sure the people over in Odaiba quite heard you." Laelapmon commented, teasing him a bit.

Manimon's ears stood on end at her remark over his noise, and he shot her a glare from inside Joey's D-Drive crossly.

"Laelapmon! You've become quite the cheeky little bi-" Manimon began, before Joey managed to quickly mute his D-Drive. Laelapmon pulled her tongue out at Manimon from her screen, causing Manimon to stamp his feet angrily, and march off-screen to have an almighty sulk.

"You've cheered up since yesterday," Joey commented to Laelapmon, who had now decided to lay on her back and paw up at the brightness icon on the D-Drive, until she accidentally pressed it, causing the light to dim down.

"Eek! Amy, everything went dark!" Laelapmon whimpered, her ears standing bolt upright from shock.

Amy laughed and reset the brightness, grinning down at Laelapmon, who was giving the brightness button a very stern glare.

"Yes, she's a lot more chipper... I think we both decided to try to be more optimistic in things, you know? Now we're in a team, we've got a bit more... slack, cut for us. Hopefully, no more pressure heaped on us all any-more." Amy said, resting her hands in her lap. Marina leaned forward, sitting more upright. She passed the blonde pair menus, wanting to treat them to something nice to better revive them after their rush to get to the cafÃ© on time.

"I'm all for that, no more pressure sounds great..." Marina sighed, looking relieved. "Everything's always on the go, we've always had to juggle work and fighting off wild Digimon, so maybe now we can all get some form of order in all this chaos."

"Have you guys had much interference with digimon attacks?" Darren asked, as Marina went off to make a new order for Amy and Joey.

"I'm on a gap year, so aside from studies, I'm home most of the time..." Amy replied, rubbing her arm a little. "It doesn't really hold me up or get in the way... I suppose in that way, it's a shame, I've got the most time, and Laelapmon has the digivolution problem... it's unfortunate... but when we can get a hold of Barghestmon, I might see if we can, umm... make up for lost time with some bonus training."

Darren's interest was piqued further on hearing this, especially since Barghestmon didn't appear to have a tamer; if he did, they certainly weren't present at the fight. It seemed strange of a 'wild' Digimon to be mentoring ones who were in the care of humans.

"That big black dog digimon from before is training you?" Darren asked in curiosity.

"I'm sure he wouldn't mind training your partners up too... but I honestly don't think Elfinmon and Denimon need it. They handled things very well the other night, so I think they're fine." Joey commented.

Marina sat back down after coming back from ordering at the counter, and picked up her cup. She'd heard the snippet about Barghestmon, and wondered how often attacks in their area happened for them to need assistance.

"Do you get interrupted by digimon attacks, Joey?" Marina asked, taking another sip from her now lukewarm drink.

"Not so much interrupted... but it leaves us very little free time, that's for sure." Joey sighed, as a waitress brought Joey and Amy two steaming mugs of hot chocolate, and a doughnut each. Now it was Manimon and Laelapmon's turn to feel hungry. Both tamers glanced down at their D-Drives apologetically, and tried not to look too guilty.

Their was a short pause in the discussion, which caused everyone to feel a tad awkward, which was inevitable considering the circumstances. A journalist in the making, an Arch Angel apprentice, an idol singer and a bodyguard with different interests _would_ make things awkward on the first meeting.

"We'll have to get together like this more often when we have more time." Marina commented, after a short moment of silence, where the group had gotten a little quiet, where they were still getting used to each-other. "Especially since we'll be working together a lot, you know?"

"Oh yes, definitely..." Joey murmured, looking down at Manimon. He hoped Manimon wouldn't try the other's patience, he wasn't sure how Amy and Laelapmon could put up with the mouthy little rabbit's constant whining.

"So, Amy, what was it you were studying, again...?" Marina asked, peering over at the blonde girl from her seat, sitting herself more upright again. Denimon whimpered from her D-Drive hungrily, but unfortunately for him, nobody seemed to hear.

"Journalism, and world culture and heritage... as part of my stay here in Japan, I need to write about my experiences... I haven't had much chance to travel about much yet." She replied, wringing her hands a little in her lap.

"You're welcome to come out with us some time, Amy," Darren said, his arms folded behind his head where he was comfortably relaxed back in his seat, "Me and Marina know a lot of places around, and Marina's dad could probably tell you quite a bit about Old Japan."

Now it was Amy's turn to sit up in surprise, this revelation involving Old World places really having caught her off guard.

"Really? That'd be really helpful if you could do that for me..." Amy replied, looking a bit more perky from where she'd been anxiously fiddling with her wrist-bands, most of the group's tension and nervousness lifting.

"My dad is a 'salvager', so he brings back a lot of things from the under-water ruins around Under Tokyo, so you could come and photograph them for your work, Amy." Marina said, smiling a little.

"I don't think salvagers get paid enough..." Joey sighed, in reference to the low pay that people who did those sort of jobs received. "They help uncover a lot of what was lost going centuries ago, it really helps science and history groups recover information. And a lot of study is still going into what went on back in 2012, too."

"It's one of the biggest mysteries of our time, finding out what happened back then that messed up the world so much..." Darren sighed, also sitting up more. "Nobody knows what caused it, or why it happened. A popular theory thing, is it was some kind of mega-nuke..."

Thanks to Darren's comment, the group was suddenly buzzing with discussion and theories to whatever happened a centuries back leading up to the fateful day the world changed forever

"But there's no radiation, not even any records of any fall-out, nothing. They can't even pin-point the exact area the supposed cause happened..." Marina stated, "My dad has friends that work internationally, and they've not once picked up on any radiation or anything in the water that they could find that could suggest it was a nuke..."

"Any number of things could have happened... and that's why I was interested in taking up world history and journalism to try to see if I could discover anything, myself." Amy said, "My dad teaches history at a university back home, so I've grown up always wondering about the world, ehehe..."

There came a loud tapping sound, like someone knocking on a glass window, causing the entire group to stop and stare at Joey's D-Drive, as Manimon glared up at them all with fiery eyes.

"Maybe some day you guys can figure out all this stuff." Manimon called up from Joey's D-Drive, angrily "But right now, the rest of us are starvin', and I'd love to be stuffin' my face with doughnuts and coffee too, but unlike you guys, we kinda don't have that luxury!"

All of the tamers stared down at their D-Drives awkwardly, all feeling a little guilty. Their hungry partners stared up with mixed responses. Elfinmon was mildly frustrated, Denimon was teary-eyed, Manimon was borderline livid with rage, and Laelapmon was lethargically laying on her side, looking empty.

"O-Oh..." Amy murmured, stroking her finger against the screen. "we got a bit wrapped up in conversation there, I forgot you guys had said you were hungry..."

Laelapmon shifted a bit more, managing to get more upright into a sitting position, but her head hung down tiredly, her ears trailing across the "floor" inside the D-Drive.

"Can I have a bowl of milk...?" She murmured, a little more revived from her drowsiness, as she placed a paw against the screen. Amy gently pressed her finger against Laelapmon's paw, feeling immensely guilty, especially when Laelapmon began making 'the puppy eyes' at her.

"O-Of course you can, Laelapmon... you can have whatever you want, darling..." Amy murmured down at her soothingly.

"You're a dog, not a cat!" Manimon shrieked from his D-Drive, "I want a big greasy cheeseburger, I think I deserve that, having been kept waiting as long as I have!"

Joey lifted his D-Drive to his face so he and Manimon could glare at one another eye-to-eye, causing the pale rabbit to hurriedly button his lip.

"Don't push it, Manimon. Stop acting like such a princess..." Joey sighed, putting his D-Drive into his pocket. Manimon was already trying his patience to the limits, and he hoped the others wouldn't think negatively of him, but thankfully, the others seemed sympathetic of his plight to deal with the mouthiest rabbit in the known universe.

"I almost wanted to eat the fluffy bunnymon!" Denimon called, where he was currently playing rock-paper-scissors with Elfinmon from their respective screens. Both of them kept calling 'scissors' , so the game wasn't exactly one either was really winning.

"'Fluffy bunnymon' isn't on the menu, Denimon sweetie!" Marina laughed, "You can have your favourite cinnamon roll instead when we get home." Marina told Denimon, as she and Darren got up, putting their D-Drives away. Denimon squealed excitedly and accidentally bashed his face into the screen, causing him to fall back onto his behind.

"Yay! I'm going to have more candy inside me than a piÃ±ata!" Elfinmon giggled, from Darren's pocket, which made Darren grin in amusement.

"I wouldn't mind beating you up like a piÃ±ata, too..." Manimon growled under his breath, but thankfully, nobody heard him.

"Alright, then... well, I guess we'd all better head off and get these guys something to eat. Oh, but before then, would it be alright if we exchange phone numbers or something to keep in touch?" Marina asked.

"Oh, goodness, I almost forgot that... I guess we all just lost ourselves in the conversation." Amy replied, as everyone began taking out pens to write with, writing on napkins and anything to hand that could be used as a notepad, all exchanging phone numbers and emails with each other.

"Joey, you should come out for a drink with me some time." Darren said as everyone got their coats and bags. He'd noticed Joey had seemed just a little quiet around them all, and was hoping he could get Joey a little more out of his shell.

"Sure... I'd like that." Joey commented, feeling like he'd given a poor first impression... but he was embarrassed by Manimon's constant outbursts, which made trying to relax and socialize difficult... he thought back to the night he'd met 'Kaede' at the bar, and what a nice, relaxed evening that had been, (up until the gekomon swarm had arrived, of course.), all because Manimon hadn't been present to shoot his mouth off and act bratty, and spoil things.

"Alright then, I guess this about wraps things up for now. Let's keep in touch." Marina said, as everyone said their goodbyes and began heading off towards their respective homes.

* * *

"Amy, Joey... what's the talk about things that happened almost a thousand years ago?" Laelapmon asked, once everyone was seated on the sofa back in Amy's apartment.

"Well, in 2012, something major happened that shook everything up in a terrible way... most of the world was left in ruins, a lot of human and animal populations were wiped out, some even made extinct..." Amy began, stretching her feet a little after taking her shoes off.

"But nobody ever found out what caused it. The only records going back that far all say it was something like an explosion, a shock-wave... it sent a massive 'ripple' over the globe, with raging tsunamis and storms that ravaged things..." Joey continued, rubbing Laelapmon's head gently.

"There's been cases of volcanic activity that's been as bad as that, going even further back in time... but there's no volcanic activity that matches with destruction of that magnitude. It's a huge mystery, and on top of that, the world hasn't been the same since." Amy sighed, also giving Laelapmon an affectionate rub on the head. "The sea levels haven't gone down, some continents were shifted violently, some having sunken down and been completely submerged... it was a world-changing incident, and because people are still suffering in the present time, and the world is still rebuilding itself even now, it's obviously a major topic."

"It sounds terrifying... I don't want to think about how that must have been for people living back then..." Laelapmon sighed, resting her chin on Amy's knee, her expression a sullen one. She couldn't imagine what life for people who had survived had been like... or what the world must have been like back then.

Everyone seemed to drift off into deep thought about this, thinking of how grey and empty a world like that must have been, with constant storms, violent seas, and thick clouds that blotted out most of the sun.

"But... I think humanity is impressive, and strong, to pull through that..." Laelapmon commented, peering up at Amy and Joey, from her resting place. "Even though that happened, humanity is still striving to rebuild what it lost. I think I like the human spirit."

"That's more like it! No more of this depressing stuff, let's talk about victory!" Manimon lauded, pounding his gloved fists together. "Stiff upper lip and all that jazz! If you think about it, it's all about perseverance. Let's fight with that same spark, eh?"

"It's not so easy to just push forward like that, Manimon." Joey sighed, patting Manimon's long ears. "All we can really do is try our best at the end of the day."

Suddenly, both of their D-Drives began receiving a signal, which caused everyone to startle slightly and make a grab for their digivices. Barghestmon's icon was on the tracker... apparently, right where they were.

Laelapmon and Manimon rushed out, looking about madly. Manimon was staring down at the car park, which was empty and quiet, whilst Laelapmon stared up the side of the building.

"I think he's on the roof!" she barked, standing on her hind legs against the wall, raising her ears to listen.

There was a short silence, before the big dog's deep voice sounded down to confirm her claim.

"Very astute, young Laelapmon." Barghestmon called down idly. They could hear the big dog padding about above them as he paced about in waiting.

Wasting no time, both the tamers and their digimon rushed up the stairs, coming out onto the apartment's roof, which was bathed in the glow of the setting sun. Barghestmon was standing over by some chain link fencing and bench seats, staring over at them.

"I'd like to know your decision." He began, as everyone approached, bluntly cutting straight to the chase and skipping any form of greeting. "On forming the team."

"We've gone through with it." Joey said, leaning on the back of the bench, looking up at Barghestmon's face. "We made the team, it's official."

"Very good... I'm pleased to hear that. I would've been disappointed if you'd turned down a team like that... fighting this problem isn't going to be easy." Barghestmon stated, looking down at them all. "Anyway, aside from coming to receive any news on the team, which is good news indeed... I came to inform you that I have set aside time for you all to stop by for training."

Everyone seemed to be training their ears on this, focusing intently. The waiting seemed to be over, and their days of being at a disadvantage would soon be over... or so they could only hope.

"Monday evening, up on the hill overlooking the park. 6pm sharp. Are you able to make it for then? I am on a schedule, you know..." the big dog spoke, watching them all carefully.

"I can make it for then." Amy said, after a short pause. She peered down at Laelapmon, wondering if she should bring up about getting extra help, seeing as she couldn't exactly digivolve.

"I might be cutting it fine, depending on how work goes." Joey murmured, folding his arms. He wasn't exactly pleased with the time, but felt he couldn't just challenge Barghestmon's arranged time... especially since Barghestmon seemed so busy, though with what, he couldn't even hazard a guess. It's not like wild Digimon had jobs, exactly. "But I'll endeavour to get there for 6pm."

"Very good." Barghestmon replied, getting to his feet. As he turned to leave, Amy hurriedly reached out, and placed her hand on Barghestmon's shoulder. She was surprised at her boldness, there, but she felt she'd regret it more if she said nothing.

"Wait... please." She began, nervously, as the big dog turned his sharp red gaze onto her face. "Laelapmon is... having a little trouble... she can't seem to digivolve, and it's worrying me... is there any chance you might give us some 'extra' training, to make up for that?"

"Don't worry." Barghestmon replied, his usually stern expression softening slightly, which surprised both her and Laelapmon, who had been fretting him turning them down. "I'll see what I can do. With the training, it's not exactly going to be digivolution based as such... except perhaps for Dvergamon, to get him used to that extra weight from the machinery on him... but otherwise, I aim to get them used to fighting as they are. Master the basics, and only then do you move on to the advanced stuff. I wasn't going to start you off with something like that... besides, it's not good to purely rely on digivolving for every battle, you know. You need to conserve energy."

"T-Thank you, Barghestmon, we appreciate thisâ€¦" Amy murmured, feeling much more relieved.

Laelapmon was overcome with gratitude, and hugged her smaller forelegs around Barghestmon's much thicker one, staring up at him with shining eyes.

"Thank you so much, Barghestmon!" she barked, her tail wagging happily. "It means a lot to me, really! I want to be able to fight and give it 100%!"

Manimon gave a short cough, causing Laelapmon to look around, and realize everyone else was staring at her. It then seemed to sink in that she was all but clinging to Barghestmon's leg, and nervously turning to look up, she caught him giving her a rather intense-looking stareâ€¦ though he was smiling, in a canine-sort of way. Was he making fun of her? He seemed amused by it, and the whole situation seemed to make her poor face feel like it was on fire.

"O-Oh!" Laelapmon squeaked, hurriedly releasing his leg, and hurrying back over to Amy. The little white dog digimon decided to keep her back to the rest of the group to try to hide her embarrassment, where that little 'moment' had caused her cheeks to flare up a noticeable shade of red.

"Anyway..." Barghestmon started, after clearing his throat. "I've got business to attend to. I will see you then... in the mean time, take care." And with that, the big black dog turned, and leapt right off the edge of the building, vanishing into thin air.

"Thank goodness, I was wondering when he'd be ready." Joey sighed, leaning back against the bench.

"I know he can be a bit mysterious at times, but we have to be patient there, Joey." Amy replied, giving him an affectionate nudge in the arm. Both of them let out a sigh of relief however; the training was finally happening. The time had finally come. Things would be more in their favour from now on, or so they hoped.

Manimon turned his attention from the two humans over to Laelapmon, who was still seemingly flustered over her little accidental clingyness earlier, and smirked.

"Wow, I didn't know you had a thing for older men, Laelapmon!" he grinned impishly, leaning against her shoulder.

"S-Shut up, Manimon!" she barked, giving his ear a sharp nip, causing him to squeak and jump right up in the air, and come crashing back down on his chin.

"ARGH! That hurt!" he shrieked, rubbing his sore chin, as the human pair looked over at the little commotion.

"What now, Manimon? Are you two having another lover's tiff?" Joey teased, grinning.

"We're not lovers, and we're not tiffing!" Manimon shrieked, hopping about from one foot to the other.

"Sometimes you fight like an old married couple, so I wouldn't be surprised..." Amy added, looking rather thoughtful, though she too was just being playful with the digimon pair.

"I am not marrying Manimon!" Laelapmon huffed, hiding her face a little behind one of her long ears, "and whilst Barghestmon is... certainly not unattractive... I'm in no hurry to marry him, either!"

"AHA!" Manimon squealed, pointing both paws at her, hopping about look a circus flea, "So does that mean you'd marry him if you WERE in a hurry?"

It seemed to register with her how she'd just set herself up for that remark, and once more, her poor white face rapidly flushed a deep shade of red once again.

"You pesky rabbit! If you keep harassing me, I'll make sure Marina doesn't give you her autograph!" she barked back in response, "I'm sure she'll be ever so happy to know how rude her number one fan really is!"

"That wouldn't be too hard." Joey sighed, stretching. "What with how loud and boisterous you are." He grinned down at Manimon's shocked expression, as though his words had stabbed the poor rabbit right through the heart. Manimon looked absolutely appalled at these 'unfounded accusations' and hopped irritably from one foot to the other.

"How could you take her side over mine?" Manimon squealed, diving at Joey's legs, "Traitor, fiend, evil goldilocks glasses-man-person-thing!"

"Hey, don't attack Mr. Joey!" Laelapmon called, biting into Manimon's soft fluffy tail, holding him off. "He's being honest!"

"Oh, I see how it is!" Manimon sulked, leaving off. "If you care about him so much, why don't you marry Joey instead? Humph!"

"Stop trying to marry me off with random people!" Laelapmon wailed, hiding her face behind both ears this time, giving out a soft whimper, "How many more times must I bite you before you leave off?"

"I think he likes being bitten!" Joey laughed, standing up. "He's a bit of a masochist like that, hahaha!"

Manimon squealed over this comment, his own face reddening up a storm, as he and Laelapmon fell into play-wrestling each other. Joey looked over and noticed Amy had stood off to lean against the railings on the side of the roof, and headed over.

"Everything alright?" he asked, leaning on the side.

"Yes... I'm just thinking, is all." she replied, staring out over the city. The breeze was fairly cool, and made her shiver a bit, but she made no move to head back inside. "Of how different life is with digimon being present. It would've been so quiet and lonely without Laelapmon by my side... I would've just spent my days locked away in my apartment, writing away... That's why I'm going to try to do my best for her, too. I want to 'train' myself, so I can support her best in this. It's been so comforting to have her by my side when things have been so difficult for me, and I want to repay her somehow."

"Well, it'd still be nice having quiet times some of the time." Joey grinned, referring to his partner's energetic noisiness. "But yeah... I can't even remember what life was like before having Manimon in it... and whatever happens, I know you'll be giving her 100%. I'll try to find a way to remove the lock so she can digivolve... but until then... we'll have to rely on Barghestmon."

"Yes... right now, he's Laelapmon's only hope of getting more experience..." Amy sighed, looking at the digimon over her shoulder. She was glad to see the pair had apparently made up.

"Hey... I'm sorry if I upset you, keep going on about stuff like that..." Manimon sighed, rubbing the back of his head. "I was surprised to see you coming out of your shell, I guess..."

Laelapmon stared off to the side a little shyly, pawing at the end of one of her ears a little.

"I guess I'm still learning about myself a little... I'm trying to learn as much as I can about everything..." she replied, slowly turning her gaze back onto his. "I suppose your fieryness is rubbing off on me... I... I've always liked your assertiveness." she murmured, looking a little flushed again. "Even if you do take it too far sometimes!"

"H-Hey!" Manimon started, going to fire off again, before actually managing to stop himself. "...Thanks. As I see it, the more the world wants you silenced, the more you've got to speak out against it, right?"

"That's... actually pretty good." Amy said, coming over with Joey, as the pair picked their digimon up.

"Yeah! People have to speak their minds more, and be more assertive!" Manimon grinned, looking pleased with himself. "Like right now, I want pancakes, and I won't take no for an answer!"

"Alright, you. There's assertiveness, and then there's being bossy." Joey sighed, pushing his glasses up his nose. "What do we look like, your servants?"

"You don't want me to answer that, Joe." Manimon smirked, poking his tongue out up at him. Joey groaned and rolled his eyes, before ruffling his sassy partner's ears.

"Pancakes, at this time of day?" Amy laughed, "Well, alright then, I suppose."

"It is NEVER too late for pancakes!" Manimon replied insistently, "And I want them soaking in syrup! No, drowning in syrup... Nay, so far under, not even the best lifeguard could save them!"

"In other words," Laelapmon piped up, as they ended up traversing over to Joey's apartment, "you want them massacred!"

Amy and Joey laughed all too knowingly about the state Manimon's pancakes were always in, as well as anything else involving syrups, yoghurt or whipped cream. It would always resemble a murder scene as far as anyone else was concerned.

* * *

"Mmm... those pancakes were delicious..." Manimon sighed, spinning around on a swivelling office chair, sat beside Joey's. "I wish the canteen here served pancakes..."

"I'm glad they don't." Joey muttered, his eyes fixed on his computer screen, as he sorted through numerous lists, mostly going over databases and various graphical charts detailing sales figures... otherwise, completely boring tasks. "It took me and Amy hours cleaning you and the table up after the utter mess you made, I thought your fur was going to be stained from the tidal wave of syrup forever!"

"Well, it was worth it. Amy made damn good pancakes! She's almost as good as you, Joe." Manimon grinned, resting his feet up on Joey's desk as he lounged right back in his chair.

Arch Angel had perks in some ways. If Joey was working for any other office, Manimon would have to stay hidden inside his D-Drive all the time, which would likely get very boring for the little rabbit very quickly. Joey could still remember the ranting and raving Manimon dished out coming back from the meet-up at the cafÃ©.

All around them, there were people working away, with their digimon by their sides. Some were running small errands for their partners, like carrying off paperwork or bringing back cups of tea or coffee. Joey was too focused on work to really be able to hear too much crowd noise going on, though it was a wonder he managed to get his work done when Manimon was hanging around like a persistent summer cold.

"Why don't you go to the gym, I'm sure it must be boring for you, sitting here, watching me work." Joey said, after a long pause, where Manimon had taken to drawing on bits of scrap paper... one image of which was himself with a body builder 6-pack with Marina's arms flung around his neck, kissing his face and proclaiming him to be her hero, with Denimon kissing his feet and worshipping him like a total fan boy.

Manimon's face flushed red, having felt positive his partner only mentioned the gym because of his ridiculous scribblings, which he quickly stuffed inside a drawer.

"No, I don't want to go down there by myself..." Manimon murmured, averting his gaze. There were a LOT of strong digimon training at the gym, some who seemed to be in their natural champion stage... and higher, though seeing ultimate levels and beyond seemed like a one in one hundred chance.

"Why, are you afraid of being seen as a pudgy little slacker next to those big strong champs?" Joey laughed, "I'll come down at break time with you, but don't expect me to use the gym equipment."

Joey wasn't averse to physical activity, but it often tended to get him fired up and made it impossible for him to be able to sit down and concentrate on his work again, so he didn't enjoy using the gym himself.

The gym was supposed to be for people training as security guards or Agents or for 'working out in the field', but a lot of people simply went to blow off steam and bond with their digimon partners together. There was even an entire hall full of small boxing or wrestling style rings, and another with three medium-sized arenas for rookie and champion level digimon to train against each other in friendly tournaments.

Joey and Manimon left their office and took the elevator downstairs, where they were going below ground level to reach the underground training facilities where the gym was. There was a cluster of people and their digimon crowding around the door to the gym, conversing loudly together excitedly.

"Hey, guys, what's up?" Joey asked, approaching the crowd. Manimon placed his paws on his hips, tapping one of his big rabbity feet in annoyance that this crowd was blocking their passage into the training hall.

"Oh, didn't you hear?" one of the girls of the group gasped, clasping her hands together rather dramatically, "two Agents showed up, they're fighting in one of the friendly tournaments over in the arena hall!"

"Yeah, they're the newest ones, too... they've only been Agents for a year, they shot right up through the ranks, too! Their digimon are only rookies, but they show SERIOUS talent!" one of the guys in the group gushed. Even their digimon were impressed.

"You should see the lady's partner, she's cool as a cucumber, with these bewitching eyes, ooooh, I could get lost in her eyes for hours!" one of the digimon sighed, looking almost lovestruck.

"Yeah, and the red-head dude's partner is really strong, I once saw him KO an opponent in SECONDS! He like, did this kung-fu chop to the back of the head, his opponent didn't even know what hit 'im!" spluttered a second one.

Manimon simply rolled his eyes and tutted. Once he and Joey managed to squeeze through the crowd to get in, and he was out of earshot of the excited group, he launched off into another tirade.

"Huh! What makes the Agents so special?" he hissed frustratedly, stamping his feet a little with every step. "They're not THAT amazing, they're just a stupid bunch of stuck-up suck-ups!"

"And how would you know that? You don't know them personally. If it's the two I'm thinking of, they don't seem all that bad." Joey replied, his hands in his pockets. "Honestly? I think you're jealous, either of the digimon partner's powers, or their collective rise to fame."

Manimon seemed so livid that his face seemed to cycle between shades of red and blue, puffing up his cheeks angrily.

"That's not true! I just don't see what all the damn hype is about!" he growled, before suddenly stepping in front of Joey, staring up at him with a fire burning in his eyes. "Hey, I know exactly what we'll do!"

"Oh god, 'we'?" Joey sighed, folding his arms, and returning the stare back down at Manimon, unphazed.

"Yeah, WE. WE'RE gonna enter the tourney, too! And knock their stupid dumb egos down to size!" Manimon grinned, beating his fists together. "Come on, it'll be fun, maybe we'll get so popular we'll get tons of babes surrounding us all the time, yeah!"

"That is a very, very stupid reason for entering a tournament," Joey sighed, adjusting his glasses slightly. "But if you honestly don't mind getting the crap beaten out of you, then fine. It's not my problem."

Joey inwardly hoped that Manimon would learn to use some humility and perhaps learn something from this as they entered into the hall. There was a crowd gathered around the arena, with a match that had apparently just finished.

"Yalimon, good job, man! You did well, keep it up!" called a man dressed in a smart black suit, from the other end of the arena, standing on a small platform. Beside him was a young woman, also wearing a suit, and a pair of shades.

"Panthermon, you and Yalimon need to react faster, next time." she advised, as if chiding the pair slightly. "Treat these battles as you would real ones. There's no need to be so 'sporting'."

"Hey, there's nothing wrong with being chivalrous, Zee-zee." the man replied, grinning in a silly way and nudging her shoulder playfully. "This is just for fun, when we go back to advanced training later, they'll be working out hard then, but for now, there's no harm letting them have a bit of fun with this, right?"

Joey and Manimon both took in a good look of the agents, though Joey had seen them around more than Manimon, the small rabbit digimon felt he would never get used to seeing them or their digimon at all- the mere sight of them seemed to set off this unstoppable drive inside himself that made him want to seek improvement. Joey wasn't sure whether to be pleased with this, or slightly disappointed.

The 'Agents' of Arch Angel do not go by their full names, merely by the first letter of their first name, presumably to keep their identities hidden. J and Z were the agents here at the tournament, and the only ones really 'known' to anyone in the 'lesser job sectors' at the company.

J had blazing red hair, and wore numerous piercings in one ear, and was usually never seen without a lollipop... mostly because he was trying to give up smoking, and the treat acted as a nice substitute. He was definitely the more warm and cheerful of the two, which was quite surprising, since the Agents were not known for being smiley or openly showing any emotion other than apathy. He also seemed to have a more laid-back and relaxed vibe about him when on a break, or so Joey thought, from the times he'd seen J and Z about in this area.

Z on the other hand was nearly his exact opposite. Dark blue hair, and always wearing shades, even inside, always hiding her eyes. Whilst she wasn't exactly cold to the point of having a 'heart of stone', she did seem more disciplined and focused, but she was known to have quite a temper on her (usually directed at J) and more involved in her work. Aside from J, she didn't really seem like she opened up to others much, not even on a work basis, and kept to herself. She and J were rarely ever apart from each other, though.

Manimon was focused more on the digimon; he'd seen a glimpse of them both before, but not enough to warrant a proper opinion on them (beyond deciding outright that 'he hated them' and 'they suck'.) He gritted his teeth slightly in frustration, because this seemed to be a 2-vs-2 tournament, and that meant finding a partner to help him fight them off.

Yalimon was some kind of strange two-legged dog or lion-like creature, with gold holy-rings around his wrists, and another around his tail. A thick, wild mane that ran from his head down his shoulders and back obscured his eyes, and by the slow, lazy sound of his voice, Manimon pretty much decided he was some kind of 'tree-hugging hippie freak hick'

Panthermon on the other hand was sleek and held herself in a typically graceful feline poise. She had a golden circlet worn on her head, and a floating gold halo-like collar, with visible light pinky-purple perfume-like cloudy wisps flowing from her head, tail tip and from her ears. She had eyes just as sharp as her partner's frosty stare, and Manimon thought her to be a 'prim and proper little stuck-up princess'.

They seemed like they wouldn't have made a good team, personality wise, but they must have had some 'secret' to their success, or so Manimon thought.

"Hah... this'll be easy! All we have to do is find someone to partner up with, eh?" Manimon laughed, a little uneasily. This was going to be easier said than done; the people interested in participating already had partners, and time to enter for the next round was running out.

"This is stupid, Manimon... why do you want to enter, anyway? It's like you're out to prove something." Joey sighed, sitting down at a seating area beside the arena, whilst Manimon rushed around through crowds, trying to find a partner.

"I want to knock their egos down to size!" Manimon called back, stumbling about unsuccessfully.

Joey sighed; the agent pair and their digimon didn't seem egotistical or show-offy in the slightest. He was positive Manimon was just doing this out of envy, or perhaps to prove he was every bit as capable a fighter or deserving of praise as the agent's digimon.

However, all of Manimon's hollering and yammering for a partner finally pulled off as a digimon approached, apparently keen to take up the offer.

"Wowee, you're really looking to enter?" called the medium-sized, snake-like digimon, that came rushing over to Manimon.

"Yeah, I am... are you? If not, get outta here, 'cause only willing potential team mates are worth my time!" Manimon huffed impatiently, as the stranger approached.

"Manimon, don't be rude! Especially not to someone that seems interested in offering some help..." Joey chided him from his seat, sitting up a little.

"Hey, hey! Calm down, horn-head!" the fluffy snake-like digimon replied. She seemed rather perky and energetic, her paws on her hips. She was a tatzelwurm-based digimon, and so had characteristics of snake and cat in her. "I'm Tatzelmon, by the way, but you can call me Tat! And I, too, am eager to join the arena fight!"

"Like I couldn't guess that..." Manimon muttered, in an off-hand manner. Both digimon and Joey looked up on hearing a girl's voice calling for Tatzelmon, before a rather shaken looking young woman managed to push her way through the crowds, rushing over and wrapping her arms around Tatzelmon tight.

"God... please don't vanish off like that again!" the woman sighed, seeming shaken. "I thought you'd run off..."

"Is everything alright?" Joey asked, getting up and joining them all properly. "You look a little shaken up, there..."

He adjusted his glasses and observed the woman joining them. She had mousy brown hair with ornamental flower hair clips, and light pink nails, and earrings and a necklace with flora-shaped gemstones to go with her hair clips, otherwise just wearing the standard office uniform.

"A-ah... it's my first day here, and I'm just... shocked..." the women sighed, "I'm not used to these working conditions... my last office job certainly didn't involve babysitting AND pet-training..."

She looked exhausted already, and anxious, doubting herself. This probably hadn't been the smartest move on her part, but she'd been desperate for this job to support and sustain herself, but hadn't realized it came with working with 'talking monsters' with seemingly limitless energy.

"It's a bit overwhelming at first, but you get used to it, eventually..." Joey sympathized, as he watched Manimon trying to prevent Tatzelmon from coiling around him in some kind of snake-bear hug, "or rather... it's more of a case of not having any choice, haha..."

"I guess that's true..." the woman laughed, rubbing one arm sheepishly. "O-Oh... I'm Kurumi, by the way..." she added, remembering that she hadn't introduced herself. She offered her hand to Joey, and he took it, shaking it in greeting.

"Pleased to meet you, Kurumi. I'm Joey, and this is my partner, Manimon... I'm afraid it seems he's roped your digimon into some silly tournament..." Joey sighed apologetically, giving Manimon a sharp glance. He really wished Manimon would slow down and be more mindful of his surroundings and people around him, but he might as well have wished for pigs to grow wings and fly, because the chances of that ever happening seemed near impossible at this stage.

"I think you've, ah, met Tatzelmon, by the looks of things..." Kurumi sighed, trying to prize her partner off of Manimon's face. "Tat, please stop that! That's so rude!"

"But he's soooo soft and fluffy, I just had to feel every inch of the softness..." Tatzelmon sighed, folding her arms behind her head. She seemed to dance in a serpentine way on the spot, humming cheerfully, her body winding back and forth in time to her song, in a way that seemed to hypnotize Manimon, before he hurriedly shook his head and snapped out of it.

"Hey! That sounds rude, don't word things like that, you creepy coil-fiend!" Manimon growled, folding his arms crossly.

"Anyway, the horny bunny wants help for the tournament, so I offered to help him, alright?" Tatzelmon commented, as if it was already decided from then on. Both Kurumi and Joey exchanged exasperated glances; it seemed their digimon just couldn't be stopped.

"Tatzelmon..." Kurumi murmured, reaching and placing her hand on the tatzelwurm's shoulder gingerly, like she really wasn't sure how to go about this, "I've only started work today... you've only been in existance for a week or so outside of my PDA, is this wise?"

"Part of our jobs involves training our digimon and then studying them, their coding, their statistics and their performance and so on." Joey interjected, though he didn't sound in favour of, nor against, Tatzelmon involving herself in Manimon's bid to beat down two higher-ranking employees he simply didn't like the looks of.

"Alright, enough mindless banter, let's cut to the chase and get this show on the road, already!" Manimon called, smirking. He was sure as sure this would be a piece of cake, now that he'd found a 'meat shield' to help him get through to hopefully fight the Agents, who were signed back up for one last small 'tournament'.

* * *

Elsewhere in the building, two agents were standing just outside Hal Becker's office, standing guard, and awaiting his appearance to escort him to the main laboratory.

"So... the boss will be seeing the main experiment, today." Agent B commented quietly. He was a tall man, with dark purple hair with a lighter 'blaze' of purple going through it, with an expression that seemed impossible to read. He folded his arms across his chest, and leaned back against the wall beside the thick door of Hal's office, thinking away. "Nervous?"

The man beside him, Agent L, flinched slightly at being spoken to. He had jet black hair that seemed to cover one eye on one side of his face, and was of a quiet disposition, and incredibly introverted.

"Y-Yes, v-very..." he stammered awkwardly, staring down at his feet. The speech therapy he'd been attending to try to fix his stammer seemed ineffectual, not helped from his natural twitchyness. Agent B was a patient man, though, and never thought poorly of him for this. They got on very well, and this cemented the pair's partnership together.

"I don't know if we'll even get to see inside. Only the science team has ever been inside that room down there." B sighed, glancing at L's face. "But I doubt it'll be anything to worry about."

"I h-hope you're r-right..." L stammered back, nervously. His eyes darted at the door, as if fearing Hal would walk out at any moment and reprimand them for gossiping about this like they were. "I h-heard strange things a-about that place... y-you know?"

"It's probably just rumours. Nothing to worry about." B sighed. But he'd heard the rumours too, that Hal and his science team were working on something huge down there. He shifted slightly, and straightened up more. "Oh, heads up. I hear movement."

Both of them stood to attention, though L was noticeably shaken, and couldn't stop trembling, and the harder he tried, the more noticeable he felt it was. Footsteps approached from within, and tapping could be heard at the button pad on the other side, causing the thick iron shutters to slide open, revealing their boss, apparently ready to depart.

Hal stepped through the door, in complete silence, simply nodding at them both to follow at his side. He was rather young to be running such a huge business as this, only 26 years of age, but he had a team of advisers doing most of the work. His main concerns were not really running the company, but this huge project of his few knew could only wonder about, yet none dared question his strange work ethics or how he ran the place.

Hal also stood out for things more than a strange work ethic. Everything about him was as white as snow, and just as cold, appearance wise. He'd been born with albinism, and so his hair and skin were white from missing pigments that would have otherwise given him some form of colour. His eyes also seemed to appear slightly pale lilac depending on the light, too. Most people would do a double-take on seeing him for the first time, because he certainly didn't fit the perception of a corporate boss.

Another thing others noticed, especially perhaps L, was the cold emptiness in his eyes. Hal was not a social man, and he seemed to either look through people, or look at them in such a way that if looks could kill, he would've murdered thousands with a single glance. That coldness was constant, and any emotion at all other than anger rarely ever showed itself on his expression. Despite his thin, almost frail-looking build especially when compared against B, his entire cold exterior was very off-putting and intimidating.

Stepping into the elevator, Hal stood in between his bodyguards, with his hands in his pockets, in deep thought. He was going down to check up on his project, and he hoped they had better news for him. His project, or rather, experiment, had started a few years ago, and each attempt had been met with failure, but he refused to give up. If the man had at least two positive traits to readily show themselves, it was his motivation, and his persistence.

On reaching the absolute bottom level of the building, which was below even the subway lines now, the small group finally exited the elevator. For L and B, this had felt like an eternity, but for Hal, it hadn't felt long at all.

"You are to wait for me outside." Hal instructed them in a voice devoid of any emotion, and this was all he said as he left them to wait in suspense.

Approaching the retinal and hand scanner, he waited until the scanner recognized him, and opened the thick series of iron doors one after the other down an increasingly darkening corridor, until he reached his destination, a room so dark even the glow from the numerous screens and buttons lighting up in their neon-coloured glowing couldn't fully penetrate the gloom.

"Alma, what's the news?" Hal asked the young woman who had been waiting for him.

Alma had been working at the company before Hal had even taken over his position when his grandfather had become ill, and eventually passed away. She was one of the highest ranked on his team, and had been in a veterinary practise and studying animal behaviour and psychology before that. She had also steadily lost her eyesight over the years, and was now blind, without the aid of a special visor across her eyes that fed information into tiny implants in her eyes that could allow her to see, though perhaps not as perfectly as was possible, but she never complained.

"Fantastic news, sir." She responded, looking very pleased. "The experiment is doing well... of all the ones made so far, this one has really surprised us- it stabilized itself quickly, much quicker than all the others. Health wise, it's too early to tell... it's in the human equivalent of an embryonic stage, but it's already responding to advanced stimulus, and... well... come and have a look at this!"

Alma led him over to a series of computer terminals stood before a gigantic tank, which contained a small semi-translucent figure within. It was undeniably a digimon, curled around it's own digicore, clinging to it tight for dear life. It's eyes had not yet formed, and a lot of it's skin had yet to even begin growing over it's wire-frame body. It's long embryo-like tail wrapped around the digicore, which connected into a wire leading up into the ceiling of the tank. Several more wires were attached to it's tiny, fragile form, and particles forming inside the tube were being drawn towards, and absorbed, into it, shaping and defining it's form.

This current stage of development had taken weeks of careful planning, monitoring and work, always watching over it, always studying it intensely. The first successful attempt at having created a digimon based on very, very specific data, for something incredibly large scale, and it was right before them.

"I... ran a series of tests on it, and I'd love to report my findings. The capabilities of it's mind are astonishing, for something only a few weeks old." Alma began, bringing up a series of charts, similar to a human's brain activity scans, "Our tests are unique ones, but very relevant to what you wanted, sir. We gave it small images, say, the corner of a photograph of a flower field, and told it that it was to recreate or fill in the blanks, what it imagined the rest of the photo to look like."

Hal looked through the scans in silence, listening intently, as Alma excitedly continued on.

"Miyuki and I gave it a colour pallet to work with, all of this fed into it's mind through the wires connecting it with the world outside it's birth tank. We described things like trees, wind, the sky, water... and we asked it to construct a setting based on these descriptions, based on things it has never seen before, using only a small grey scale photo snippet, and the chamber surrounded the tank, well..."

She excitedly turned to a second terminal and brought up a video recording they'd made of the incident.

"Look at the world it constructed based purely on it's imagination!"

Hal stared at the screen, hypnotized at what was about to happen, and for once, a smile seemed to play on his lips, though his eyes were still as cold as ever.

The chamber surrounding the tank was one specially designed to show the experiment's dreams in a physical real-life setting. Hal watched as his creation began to create and shape the world of it's dreams based on description and brief references around it. Immediately, the chamber was awash with colour, bright blue skies it had never been under, soft fluffy white clouds, rolling hills of greenery and flowers dancing on a breeze it never felt, trees standing tall against the sky, a cool flowing river... the picturesque image of beauty. The image of a world from centuries ago, before everything was destroyed.

Even in the artificial parks scattered through Neo Tokyo, those man-made places could never compare to the beauty of the Old World, the world the experiment had been influenced to dream of.

"Incredible... for something made of just data, Astralmon is truly going to make history..." Hal breathed, turning from the video recording to stare up at the being in the tank. "A child of limitless potential... this makes the previous failures worth it, to have made it to the one that survived the first few days of existance... Alma, make damn sure this one survives. I would hate to lose such promising talent."

It was a direct order for her, and one he meant very seriously. Hal's briefly impressed tone soon returned to its usual coldness, causing Alma to flinch. He had not felt any sorrow or pity for the previous attempts at creating a digital life-form's slow, agonized deterioration, even when the poor things unearthly screams had flooded through the entire laboratory. He'd felt nothing but disappointment, and anger.

There would be no telling what his reaction would be if this attempt failed.

* * *

"Moon Fire!"

Manimon's attack hit home on his opponent, an Elecmon, sending it flying backwards in a ball of white flame. The digimon smashed hard into the ground, and with a soft groan, fell unconscious.

Manimon and Tatzelmon had been busy fighting through the rounds. Most of the action had been very fast paced, and so each round went by rather fast, since, after all, they were fighting during break time, and so special 'rules' had been set down.

Every combatant had been given an artificial health meter viewable only to their partners and the arena referee, and when the meter reached zero, the digimon would become incapable of going through to the next round. There was also a clock counting down, and whoever had the most health remaining, if none had been knocked out, took their partner through to the next round.

"Vile Constrict!" yelled Tatzelmon, who sprung forward like a coiled spring, into the remaining digimon, a Penguinmon. Her snake-like body stretched like elastic rubber and coiled tightly around the other digimon's body, before tightening right up, in a bid to crush and choke her penguin foe into submission.

Despite it's best efforts however, in it's increasingly weakened attempts to break free, the Penguinmon had fallen.

"Team Moon-Snake wins! The final round is up next, so get ready!" the referee called down from his judging platform. The fallen pair's tamers came out and digitized their partners back into their D-Drives (of which every employee with a realized partner had one due to the nature of realizing them.)

Manimon wrung his paws slightly, and jogged on the spot a little to get himself pepped up. This is it, what they'd been fighting for... or rather, what HE had been fighting for. The tension was almost killing him.

"Nervous?" Tatzelmon called, giving a long stretch, leaning back on her tail. "You ain't half bad, for a fluffy bunny!"

"And you ain't half bad, for a sassy kitty-snake," Manimon grinned, flexing slightly. But he did feel very nervous, considering that now he'd put his pride on the line, the final showdown would test to see if he really was as capable as he'd thought he was.

Joey rolled his eyes above them and called down at the pair, "Stop flirting and focus, Manimon. The fight you wanted is up next, right?"

Kurumi couldn't help but giggle slightly at Manimon's reaction to being accused of 'flirting' with the 'horrid snake' (as he'd been calling her for the first few rounds). She'd gotten to like the energy and thrills of the fights, and Tatzelmon had been having a blast.

"It's a good way for them to blow off some steam by the looks of things," she commented, leaning forward in her seat some more. "Do you bring Manimon down here much?"

"Sometimes, depends on if I feel like letting him get himself into trouble," Joey replied, wiping his glasses down. It was a tad too hot down in the arenas from all the crowds and fighting going on... and speaking of crowds, there was a huge number of people all up top watching. Some were normal employees, others were there to record the results of the fights, especially ones keeping record of individual digimon's training progress.

"If you'd asked me last year where I would've ended up, I never would have seen myself training up a sentient monster snake." Kurumi stated excitedly. "I always wanted to work in a quiet, peaceful job, but this certainly turned my world upside down..."

"Haha, well, you'll love it I'm sure," Joey replied back, smiling. "And having a soft cuddly room-mate isn't too bad I suppose."

On the times Joey had been very stressed out and upset, when simply cleaning the apartment (one of his favourite stress-relief activities) hadn't helped, sitting down with a hot drink and stroking Manimon's soft ears always did the trick. Even if the two had their bad moments, they had a lot of good moments, too. Joey certainly didn't regret getting Manimon as a partner, and the two knew each other better than anyone else.

Joey looked across at the opposite contender stands, and saw J and Z take their places. The iron doors slid open again, showing the pair's digimon partners emerge from the darkness of the room beyond.

Yalimon cricked his neck and knuckles, scuffling one of his feet against the floor, Panthermon stretching in her feline way beside him.

"This ought to be a good 'un, Panthy." the shaggy-haired purple beast commented to his partner. "Them newbies did good, didn't they?"

"They will go down just as fast as the rest, I'm quite sure." Panthermon commented dryly, inspecting her claws a little, "Good as they are, that rabbit in particular lets his heart rule his head too much."

"Y-You were spying on us?" Manimon growled from across the arena, his large ears not missing a detail of the conversation, "That ain't fair! Besides, I'm going to be the one to take BOTH of you down!"

Tatzelmon glared at Manimon sharply, folding her small arms across her chest in anger. She'd helped get him this far, and she didn't want to be dismissed like that. Grabbing Manimon's tail, she pulled him back and made him look at her face, eye to eye.

"Just who was it that helped save your bunny-butt in the previous round when that Elecmon had you up against the wall?" she growled, keeping her voice low, "I deserve at least SOME respect, y'know? This is why you don't have a girlfriend!"

"Ooooh, you sassy little cow, if those guys don't tear your tail a new one, I certainly will, after this fight!" Manimon fired back. Both of them glared at each other, and took their positions.

Kurumi and Joey both gave each other nervous looks. They hadn't heard what had gone on between their digimon, but the tension was obviously getting to them, and where they had previously stuck together in the previous rounds, to the point of showing an interesting sort of chemistry, it was now left in tatters.

"What's going on...?" Kurumi asked Joey nervously, wishing she knew just what was being said down there to set the two off.

"It's very tense all of a sudden..." Joey replied, "maybe they're nervous. This was the fight Manimon was waiting for..."

The referee blew the whistle for the match to begin, and everything seemed to set off all at once. The digimon in the arena began to circle around each other, keeping their eyes fixed on their opponents.

Manimon was thinking up using the tactic of picking off the weakest first, and physically speaking, Panthermon was less of a threat than Yalimon; he'd seen what the hairy purple lion-dog was capable of, and he didn't like it one bit.

However, Yalimon must have been sharing the same ideas, because he was sizing Manimon up, readying himself for a charge. Just as he began to rush at Manimon, his fists balled up ready to strike, Tatzelmon sailed past, her long serpentine body wrapping tight around the purple digimon's body, restraining his arms down against his sides.

"Vile Constrict!" Tatzelmon called, every muscle in her body tensing up, causing her already tight hold on Yalimon to increase drastically, to the point of choking. Yalimon struggled to get himself free, but some quick thinking on his part was all that spared him.

Tatzelmon had been stupid enough to keep her paws near his face, and he was able to open his jaws up wide, and slam them down like a bear trap onto Tatzelmon's small paw. The cat-snake screamed in agony, her body going slack, before swishing about madly in pain like a whip.

"You done messed up on that 'un, snake girl." Yalimon murmured in his slow, lazy sounding voice, after releasing her hand from his grip. Data particles fountained out of the wound on her hand briefly, causing her to blanch back slightly.

"God Hand!" Yalimon called out, before Tatzelmon had a chance to recollect herself. His balled up fists began to glow with a bright gold light, before he pulled his arm back and then unleashed a powerful punch, right between her eyes. The light around his fist that had collected exploded violently on impact, and the force sent her flying back, right over Manimon's head, and into the arena wall.

Manimon stared in disbelief as her body sank down to the ground, unconscious, save for a few horrid looking convulsions. Turning, the rabbit stared back at Yalimon, whose bout with Tatzelmon had distracted him... he was still distracted now, even with Panthermon fast closing in on him. By time he realized what was going on, it was already far too late.

"Perfumed Hypnosis..." Panthermon purred, in a voice smoother than silk, from just behind the rabbit digimon.

The strange, wispy, purple mist-like substance flowing from her ears and tail tip seemed to wrap around Manimon, clouding over his senses. He lost all focus on the fight, becoming mesmerized and lost in a trance-like state around Panthermon.

"N-Nnh..." Manimon gasped, the perfume-like misty substance almost smothering him, before he seemed to remember that all the whilst Yalimon was still up and about he was in danger. Tatzelmon's defeat replayed again in his mind, snapping him out of his stupor enough to initiate an attack.

"DAZZLE!" he yelled, his horn giving off a quick, bright flash. He'd disrupted Panthermon's own move, where she'd pulled off to shield her eyes, which were teared up and blinking several times, where she'd been temporarily blinded.

Manimon was not so successful with Yalimon. The light purple furred beast simply tilted his head in confusion, where he hadn't been affected, due to his thick and wild mane covering his eyes.

"What?" Manimon yelled in a panic, as Yalimon descended on him with glowing fists.

"Hallowed Systema!" Yalimon called, before catching Manimon up in a barrage of swift punches and kicks.

Yalimon's general running speed was laughably poor, but Manimon found nothing to laugh over in regards to his brutal melee combat attacking speeds. He had virtually no time to cover or get away once Yalimon was on top of him, raining down blows on his head, and chest, and gut. One final 'charged' punch from the finisher made Manimon feel as though as skull would explode as he got smashed flying across the ground, crashing into the wall, knocked completely unconscious.

"Team Moon-Snake down! Yalimon and Panthermon's winning streak continues!" the announcer cheered into the microphone, above the deafening roar of the crowds. Manimon was too far gone to hear the crowd, not even realizing his 'dream' of beating his supposed rivals gone up in smoke.

Joey and Kurumi rushed out, hurriedly digitizing Manimon and Tatzelmon, the Agents coming out on the opposite side and digitizing their own partners.

"Sorry about that." J called, coming over. "Yalimon isn't aware of his own strength sometimes..."

"W-Will they be okay?" Kurumi asked, almost jumping J for an immediate answer, "Please, they got really hurt out there!"

"Do calm down." Z snapped icily, "just take them to the medical ward and let them rest in bed for a few hours. The medics will see to them."

Kurumi and Z both glared at each other, Kurumi wishing Z, considering her side won, would show a bit more compassion, and Z wishing Kurumi would stop getting so emotional because it 'wasn't professional'. Joey stared nervously between the pair, before J thankfully got in-between them both.

"What she said." J grinned, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. "Want me to show you the way there? The beds in the medical ward are dead comfy, sometimes I steal a nap in one when I'm off duty..."

"J..." Z muttered, nursing her temples from an oncoming headache. "Firstly, we need to get back to work, and secondly, I wish you'd stop being so... unprofessional!"

"Aww, babe, thanks for the concern, but you don't have to nag me." J smirked, teasing with a strand of her blue hair before her hand smacked his away defensively. He smiled at her pouting face and began to lead the others away. "You guys did good to even get to the finals on your first go, your digimon did good out there."

"Manimon had his heart set on it, but things went wrong in the final round it seemed. He and Tatzelmon had some kind of disagreement." Joey commented, staring down at his D-Drive. Manimon's icon was darkened, and he wasn't regenerating his health, which made him feel nervous.

Agent J peered down at the D-Drive and tutted slightly, as he lead them into the medical wards, and explained to a nurse on hand what happened, and she quickly got the digimon to two beds, hooking them up to a special life support machine made just for digimon. Manimon and Tatzelmon were both laid out on beds to rest as the nurse explained.

"Some injuries can be so severe, internally or mentally, that the D-Drive just can't fix them on it's own. That's where this machine comes in. It's akin to forcing a hard-reset on a computer... but nothing bad will happen. They'll be monitored regularly." the nurse assured them.

Joey stroked Manimon's ears, sitting beside Kurumi, who was likewise rubbing Tatzelmon's paw in silence. The pair sat there until it was time to head back to their places in the office and finish work. Joey hoped that when Manimon came to, he'd perhaps start learning to use his head before putting himself in troublesome situations.

* * *

Some time a lot later, Manimon's eyes flickered open. His eyes were blurry, and his body ached, but he otherwise was conscious. The lighting in the ward was dimmed down, and he could barely see the clock above his bed, but it was reading as 7pm. The rabbit digimon jumped up in surprise, almost hitting his head on the bed's headboard, before he finally noticed something, or rather, someone, staring at him from the foot of his bed... and it wasn't Joey.

The person who had been watching him suddenly ducked down the end of the bed to hide, but Manimon hurriedly scuttled down to the end on all fours, leaning over the side.

"H-Hey! Who are you? Why were you watching me sleep?" he growled, causing the stranger, a young teen, to shiver slightly.

"I wanted to keep watch since the nurses are busy elsewhere..." the kid replied, wrapping his (or her? it was impossible for Manimon to tell) arms around his legs, resting his chin on his knees. Manimon slid down off the bed and came to sit in-front of the stranger.

"That doesn't tell me who you are, though." Manimon questioned, raising an eyebrow in curiosity. Kids were not allowed in the building, and how this one got in was a surprise. Manimon took in his supposed-visitor's details, and seemed genuinely surprised. The teen was wearing a loose-fitting white shirt that seemed to hang off one shoulder, and black shorts... and was otherwise completely barefoot.

Manimon couldn't make out his eyes, because his pale blue hair completely covered the top half of his face. The rabbit wondered perhaps if this was some kind of waif fresh in from the streets, and rubbed his chin in deep thought.

On not receiving any response from his enquiry, he tried again. "...you got a name, then, kiddo?"

"Nope." the teen responded, peering down at he and Manimon's feet. Manimon almost fell onto his back from the answer.

"Hah I see how it is, you're just playing about. Really, what's your name?" he repeated, tapping his foot impatiently. He was in no mood for any games, and he wanted answers over who this weirdo was and why he was in the building, watching delicate princely rabbits sleeping away like sleeping beauty.

"I don't have a name." the kid answered again, shifting slightly in his seat. Manimon swallowed, feeling himself getting flustered and worked up.

"Surely you have a name! Every human is given a name from birth by their parents, or something!" Manimon cried, before suddenly shaking his head. "Whatever, if you don't have a name, then I'm just plain calling you Kid, got it?"

The newly dubbed Kid nodded his head in acceptance, and Manimon continued his interrogation. "Where are you from, why are you here, where do you live? I want answers, bucko! Kids ain't supposed to be in the building!"

"I came from here, and I live here... but I don't know why I'm here." Kid replied, smiling slightly. Manimon felt his heartbeat quicken... something seemed weird about this boy (or girl) and it was very off-putting, from the vague and mysterious answers right down to strange hobo-fashion going on, and Manimon didn't like it, but before he could continue, Kid spoke up.

"You've been out for hours and hours... a man with glasses kept coming by to check on you a lot. Is he your friend?" Kid asked, shifting into a cross-legged position, his hands fidgeting with the hem of his baggy shirt.

"He's my tamer. I'm his digimon... wait, don't tell me you know what a digimon is?" Manimon yelped. He sometimes forgot that he himself was a digimon, and that the public was not supposed to know they were real, and here he was, having lost himself completely in conversation with a supposed member of the public.

"He-he, you're cute when you get jumpy... and yeah, I know what digimon are." Kid said, still fiddling away. "What's a tamer?"

"A tamer is a human who looks after us, who we fight for and protect, and who give us their power to reach stronger forms." Manimon explained, before deciding to show off a little, "I already digivolved to my next form! I'm just that amazing, you know?"

"I see..." Kid responded thoughtfully, before standing up. "Okay then, mr. amazing bunny... let's go out. You're better now, right?"

Manimon squealed and hopped from one foot-paw to the other, shaking his fists.

"Show some respect! It's Manimon, not bunny, no matter how amazing I am!"

Kid headed off to the door and peered out cautiously, as if fearing being caught, which had Manimon back on the alert again. He hopped over and tugged on Kid's shirt gently to get his attention.

"How can you live here? Who do you even live with, anyway?" Manimon asked, before Kid picked him up. He'd normally have complained about being handled by strangers he hadn't given permission to, but he was too surprised by suddenly being whisked off to start shooting his mouth off.

"I've always lived here... by myself." Kid replied, holding Manimon in his arms. His bare feet made no sound as they headed down corridors, heading towards the empty cafeteria. Everyone by this point had clocked off and gone home, except for some people working late, like Joey and the night security guards.

"That doesn't tell me anything. How old are you, anyway? Why would people let you stay here?" Manimon asked, after being set down on a table-top. He sat on the edge and swung his feet a little, keeping his eyes fixed on his strange companion.

"I don't know how." Kid replied vaguely again, which Manimon tried very hard not to get frustrated over. "Hal lives here, though. He never leaves the building, ever."

Manimon suddenly sat up straight, looking very interested, especially since Joey was trying to do research on Hal and Arch Angel for the sake of finding out more about his grandfather.

"You know Hal? As in Hal Becker, boss of this very company?" the small rabbit said, clasping his paws together in his lap nervously, "What do you know? How much do you know? HOW do you know? Are you his kid, or something?"

Kid went over to the vending machine and tapped something in, and mysteriously, even without inputting any money, a can of cola dropped out of the machine. Sitting opposite, he struggled to open the can, which Manimon helped him with, and then let Manimon have the cola for himself, even though seeing him 'steal' the cola from the machine was only giving him more questions to ask Kid.

"I know about Hal, but... not enough. I really want him to notice me..." Kid sighed, resting his chin on the back of his hand. "He's very busy with something right now."

"Busy with what?" Manimon asked, wondering if Kid knew, and if he did, if he'd give him a straight answer, but unfortunately for the digimon, the teen didn't seem to know.

"I don't know what it is, but whatever it is he's doing, it takes up all of his time. That's why he never leaves the building. He's very focused on whatever is keeping him busy."

Manimon finished drinking, and offered Kid the can, but the teen declined. Manimon was trying not to press too hard for answers, but the more he heard, the less everything made sense.

"Alright, let me get this straight, from the beginning... you didn't have a name until we agreed on Kid, you don't know how old you are, you're 'from here' or 'live here', you don't know why you're here, though, and you knew what digimon are but not tamers, and you know about Hal and sound like you want him to pay attention to you, but you're not his kid..." Manimon voiced aloud, pacing back and forth down the table, as Kid watched. "what else could there possibly be?"

"This is my first time coming to this floor." Kid added, "I've never seen the outside world, or left the building, either... actually, before I saw you, I was hiding in the bed-place because I was trying to see what the world looked like."

"excuse me..." Manimon panted, fearing he was about to pass out again from this new revelation. "excuse me... mind is officially BLOWN... are you some kind of alien? child slave? child experiment?"

Kid's response really did knock Manimon off the table, however.

"oh! I think so?" the boy (or girl) replied in response to Manimon's assumptions, "but I don't know... I hardly know anything about myself."

Manimon clambered up onto the table looking angry, now, and Kid seemed to shrink back fearfully, but Manimon was too incensed to hold back at this point.

"How can you not? You look about 14, how can you not know yourself?" the rabbit digimon demanded, marching right up to Kid and yanking on his shirt, so that they stared at one another face to face. Kid's bottom lip was trembling, and tears began to slide down his cheeks from his fearful eyes, hidden behind his bushy mane of hair. On seeing this, Manimon felt a pang of guilt... he hadn't realized just how scary and confusing this all was, not just to him, but to Kid, as well.

"I'm sorry... I tried not to get upset... I don't even have _memories..._ " Kid sobbed, wiping his arm across his face. Manimon bit his lip in silence. Not even memories...? Something was definitely up with this kid, and the whole company. He suspected child experimentation, and he definitely intended to talk to Joey about this when he could.

"Memories... well... let's make some, OK?" Manimon said, after a short silence, "you and me, let's go out and have a great time some time, and we'll make lots of great memories together, got it?"

"...Really?" Kid asked, after drying his eyes, "I just want to go outside, and see what the world is like... they won't let any of us out..."

Manimon bit his lip, what did he mean by 'us'? He had a strange sinking feeling in his gut that Arch Angel was doing something very big, here.

"'Us?' There's more of you?" Manimon inquired, but before he could get a response, Joey entered the canteen, his bag slung over his shoulder, ready to leave.

"Manimon, how long have you been awake for-" Joey started, before he noticed Kid. He and Kid stared at each other, before Kid hurriedly got to his feet and started running back for the corridors again. Joey and Manimon hurriedly gave pursuit "Hey, wait!"

However, Kid turned a down a corridor, and this is where the pair lost him. Staring in disbelief, it was almost like the teen had just vanished into thin air.

* * *

Manimon spent the rest of the time explaining to Joey what had happened, and everything he'd discussed with Kid, as the pair headed off. Joey had alerted security, even though Manimon had secretly been against this decision, for a reason he couldn't explain. He didn't think Kid was lying, or posing a threat to the security of the building in any way, but Joey's morals had won over in the end.

"So you think he's an experiment, like a test-tube clone baby or something, then?" Joey asked Manimon quietly on the train home. The carriage was empty, so Manimon was sitting on the seat opposite of his.

"I don't know, Joe. After he disappeared down that corridor, he could've been a ghost for all I know... but Hal is definitely working on something big. Kid even said he was so busy he never left the building... he must live there, right?" Manimon replied.

"I don't want to think about what it is, but we'll need to find a way of getting more information... first, people start going missing, and now some science-ghost-child or whatever is running around in the building." Joey sighed. He felt uneasy, like something big and terrible was in-store for them in future. Nothing made sense, nor did it add up, the whole thing had no connection, either.

Joey could already feel another headache coming on. Today had just been one of those spectacularly mind-blowing days where the gift just kept on giving in the form of more mysteries and stress.

* * *

Skye opened the door to the vast computer room, carrying in a tray of drinks and biscuits for herself and Seth, her brother. He was sat before a gigantic screen almost taking up the entire wall, which was broken up into smaller screens showing various things going on in them.

"Monitoring Arch Angel again?" Skye asked, setting the tray down on a small desk by the monitors. Seth reached for a biscuit and nodded.

"Hal's been up to something lately. I saw him head out with two of his goons downstairs, I was lucky I could hack the CCTV down there, the whole thing is a lot harder to get into on that level." he replied in a tired sounding voice. He'd been up at the crack of dawn, surveying things.

"What do you think it is he's working on?" Skye asked, taking a seat by his side. She took a sip from her drink and looked through the screens.

"No idea, there's no way of getting into that room because there's no cameras in there, and I'm assuming the computers they're using in there are stand-alone ones not connected to the company network, because I've not found anyway of accessing. Everything in there is being kept off-limits from everything else." he grumbled, eating a second biscuit frustratedly.

For a while, neither of them said anything, just watching through the CCTV at some of the night security going on patrol, all of them seemingly on alert for something. Hal had retreated to his office, and hadn't come out since, so whether he was aware of the problems currently going down was a mystery, but he was so disconnected from the rest of the employees, the pair wondered if he even cared.

But movement on one of the corridor cameras caught their eyes; two Agents were dashing past frantically, guns at the ready.

"Hold up, why are they running? It's like they're chasing something that isn't there." Seth said, with his mouth half-full of biscuit.

They watched as Agent L and Agent B made a sudden sharp turn down another corridor. A pipe had sprung a leak earlier in the day and had a sign cautioning of the wet floor beneath until a plumber could be called in to fix it, and Seth and Skye both sat up straight and took notice as several strange 'splashes' through the puddle occurred, before the Agents finally came into view and ran after whatever invisible 'thing' had made those splashes.

"D-Did you get that on a recording?" Skye asked her brother nervously, watching the screen with wide eyes.

"Damn right I did..." Seth murmured, narrowing his eyes. "Well damn, that's one more thing we've got to keep a track of. Some ghost running around Arch Angel. First that rabbit digimon was acting weird in the canteen, talking to himself, and then some guy with glasses come in and they run down a corridor, too."

"What if they'd seen the ghost, too?" Skye asked nervously, fidgeting away. She believed in the paranormal, but Seth seemed less than impressed.

"You seriously believed it? It's probably a tamerless-digimon that escaped from one of the labs... maybe a chameleon or camouflager or something." Seth replied indignantly, folding his arms. "Anyway, you can check through the recordings in the morning. I'm heading home, it's damn cold in here."

They finished up their snacks and drinks, and Seth put the massive computer into sleep mode whilst the recordings continued. The pair headed out of their hide-out, into the pitch blackness of the 'underworld' beneath Neo Tokyo, where the sun never shone, the stars never shined, and the wind never blew.

Seth in particular had enough problems with Arch Angel without needing to start looking into apparent hauntings, even if they'd both just witnessed one.


	6. Episode 6. Sound of the Underground

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Barghestmon's promised training turns out to be nothing like the gang ever anticipated. Joey manages to spend time with the mysterious girl he met at the concert, whilst Amy is taken to a place she'd never expected to wind up...

# 

Episode 6. Sound of the Underground

* * *

The sun was setting, vanishing down behind the seemingly endless cityscape of Neo Tokyo, and leaving everything bathed in a warm orange glow. That evening had clear, cloudless skies, and seemed otherwise very quiet, up on the big hill of one of the numerous artificial parks, Kobayashi Park, which was named after New Japan's current prime minister.

Amy pulled her coat around herself a little tighter, and checked her watch to be sure of the time. It was currently ten to six, almost time for Barghestmon's training. Joey was sitting up ahead on a bench, reading a book to pass the time, and Manimon and Laelapmon were currently playfully chasing each other about through some trees nearby, which Amy smiled and took a quick snapshot of with her camera.

She'd brought her camera out to grab some images for her journalism project back home, and the hill had certainly delivered many great shots of the city, which pleased her. Joey had pointed out a number of great things, too, though he hadn't been as keen in traipsing any further up the steep hillsides.

Joey had made sure to bring out flashlights, because he felt certain it'd have long-grown dark before the training finished, since Barghestmon had seemed to choose a time when few would venture up this far, for privacy's sake.

"Well, it's almost time," Amy called, heading over and taking a seat beside Joey, stretching her arms and legs as she reclined back against the bench seating. "You've been looking forward to this for a while, huh?"

Joey caught Amy grinning cheekily at him, since he wasn't the sort that usually got impatient for something, but this had been perhaps that 'one exception' - that, and he really did want to see if Barghestmon's training would prove beneficial... he did have his doubts.

"Yes, well. It's about time, eh? We've been waiting for this moment since defeating Centimon, and I still don't understand his 'schedule'. How can a digimon be busy? It's not like he has work to do!" Joey sighed, though the idea of Barghestmon wearing a smart tie and sitting at a giant office desk did make him smile.

"He probably does a lot more than he lets on." Laelapmon chimed in, as she and Manimon headed over from the trees. They were both slightly scuffed up from a minor play-wrestling moment in some bushes, and Amy helped brush some stray leaves out of her partner's ears.

"Probably," Joey replied, putting his book back into his bag. "But he's often very vague. I guess I just don't like being left in the dark."

Amy peered down at her watch again; it was now five minutes to six. Manimon heaved himself up with a grunt to sit in-between her and Joey, and then laid himself flat across Joey's lap expectantly.

"How's about a tummy-rub for the champ in training, eh? We did the warm-up like you guys told us to, so how's about a massage, lenses?" he grinned, folding his arms behind his head, staring up at his partner inquisitively.

Joey gently took ahold of Manimon's ears, and like a magician pulling a rabbit out of a top hat, pulled him into a sitting position and nudged him to one side, grinning back at him.

"Don't get too comfy, he'll be here soon. If he can keep his word," Joey sighed, staring out at the trees before them, which started off dense but then got slightly more sparse, with several clearings further in.

Something big and black could be seen moving towards them through the trees, before the tell-tale glow of red eyes pierced through the dark foliage of the cluster of trees. Barghestmon's arrival (which, as Amy checked, was dead on six pm) had everyone hurriedly get to their feet in greeting.

"I see we are all here," Barghestmon commented, glancing at each of them in turn in approval. "Very good. I think I'll start you off with one-on-one training, first. You'll both take turns against me in your training... understood?"

Both tamers and their digimon alike glanced at one another nervously. Two rookies against a champion hardly seemed fair, but Barghestmon must have had some sort of plan. Everyone nodded or muttered some form of acceptance to this, and the big black dog began to lead them off through the trees towards one of the clearings.

"If we train here, we'll have more privacy. I doubt anyone will come through here now- it's getting dark," Barghestmon commented, looking around the clearing. "Manimon, you and I will go first. I believe you struggle with speed, correct?"

"Y-Yeah, I do. What of it?" Manimon murmured, folding his arms defensively. He didn't like the look Barghestmon was giving him, with his narrowed red eyes fixed firmly on his, which caused Manimon to instinctively take a step back.

"Here's your first test: escape from me to the other end of the forest, or I'll bite you."

The snarl that escaped Barghestmon's suddenly-bared teeth had everyone jump, but none more so than Manimon, whose ears and fur stood on end all over his body. Without thinking, he began sprinting off as fast as he could without looking where he was going, Barghestmon's heavy footfalls behind him the only indication that the big black dog was close behind him, and hot on his heels, where he dared not look behind him.

Several times, Barghestmon's jaws came terrifyingly close to clipping at his heels, and Manimon squealed loudly, his eyes wide with panic. It didn't matter which way he turned, Barghestmon was always baring down on him.

Eventually, Manimon grew so lost in his panic that he tripped and fell over a tree root, sliding through dirt and fallen leaves until he bashed into a tree. Rubbing his eyes, he blinked up at Barghestmon's face, which was inches now from his own, and trembled visibly. However, the big dog merely sniffed and pulled back.

"Game over. I give that zero out of five. Not even an A for effort."

The others came dashing breathlessly up from behind the pair, looking worried- especially Joey, who ran up and knelt besides his trembling rabbit digimon, and began massaging his ears to soothe his nerves.

"What the hell kind of training was that?" Joey snapped, glaring over his glasses at their 'mentor' figure, still comforting Manimon, whose trembling and quivering was thankfully growing less, though he was still breathless.

"The sort he needs to overcome if he aims to protect both you and himself," the big dog replied nonchalantly, "The whole point of this training is to take it seriously. If he'd made this mistake against an enemy, maybe one even at a level higher than myself, he would have been finished off."

The others said nothing, and hung their heads. Barghestmon was completely serious about this, not a shred of humour in his expression or tone. Everyone realized this would not be as easy as they thought, with Barghestmon treating this so seriously.

"I'll go next..." Laelapmon spoke up, after the mood had set back into place. Amy nodded quietly, and stood by Joey's side anxiously. Joey wiped off his glasses, and placed his hand reassuringly onto her shoulder, his other still stroking Manimon's head between his ears, his rabbit partner leaning against his leg nervously.

"Same as before, you are to escape to the other end of the forest; if I catch you, I will bite you. Do you understand?" he asked her, lowering his head enough to meet her gaze, eye-to-eye.

"I understand," the smaller dog responded, stepping up. Amy bit her lip nervously, but made no move to stop her, instead coming forward just as her partner had done.

"...I know you can do it, Laelapmon. Just focus. Alright?" she murmured, kneeling down in-front of her digimon, and stroking Laelapmon's ears. This is what everyone had agreed to, and even if Barghestmon's training was... not what they had been expecting, he must have deeper reasons, though his point had already been made, Amy suspected that there was a more underlying issue.

Both dog digimon - one big, strong and black, the other, small, meek and white - stared each-other down as Laelapmon readied herself. She tensed up slightly, bracing herself to get ready to run.

"Start running... _now,_ " Barghestmon snarled, breaking the short silence that had fallen over the clearing.

Laelapmon needed no further encouragement- she had already taken off as fast as her smaller legs would carry her. She focused on keeping to places clear of branches or bushes, trying to avoid anything that would slow her down, with Amy calling encouragement after her. She could feel, let alone hear, Barghestmon's heavy paws thumping against the ground in his pursuit of her.

Several times, Barghestmon's teeth nearly grazed at her tail, which was streaming behind her like a banner. She yelped and briefly lost focus, and he nearly wound up running over her small body, causing her to lunge forward in desperation. Something stirred inside her, and she found herself calling on her wind powers to push herself forward, to the point it felt like she was almost becoming one with the wind itself.

The white dog digimon could finally see the end coming up, the light of the sunset shining out like an orange beacon, guiding her forward. She was almost there, and the sound of Barghestmon's paws beating down against the ground weren't as close as before, and Amy had fallen so far back Laelapmon had to strain to hear her partner's voice echoing after them through the trees.

She paused, slowing down to a trot, daring to look over her shoulder as she began heading out of the trees... and this cost her. Barghestmon seemed to appear out of nowhere, completely blind-siding her with a swipe of one of his big paws, sending her skidding sideways through the grass and dirt, a look of shock and disbelief frozen on her face.

Amy dashed past as fast as she could, and scooped Laelapmon up into her arms protectively, checking her over worriedly, though thankfully aside from shock and dizziness, the puppy digimon seemed fine.

"Don't grow complacent just because you neared the goal." Barghestmon spoke as he approached the pair, "don't slow down, and don't look back. You did so well, up until that point where you grew too sure of yourself. Be more alert next time, Laelapmon."

Laelapmon hung her head in shame. She HAD felt sure of herself, she had felt too confident that she would reach her goal, and show... perhaps even impress... her mentor figure. It was one mistake, but she felt as if she had let everyone down, especially Amy and Barghestmon.

Amy stroked her long ears soothingly, and sighed. There was so much she wanted to say, and Barghestmon could sense it. She wanted to berate him for this, for knocking Laelapmon's confidence, but she knew deep down this would have been a silly move. He meant well, surely, even if this training was not what everyone expected.

"Take a break, collect yourselves. When you are rested, we will continue until both Laelapmon and Manimon complete their training to satisfaction," Barghestmon called to the four over his shoulder, as he trotted off into the thicket for a bit.

Amy dropped to her knees, still holding Laelapmon. She felt exhausted just looking at the state Manimon was in as Joey carried him over. His nerves had mostly settled down, but his long ears, which he normally held erect, were pinned right back, where he too felt ashamed of himself.

They all sat in silence on the grass, the evening breeze growing all the more chilly. Laelapmon was still trying to peer into the darkening forest shade, trying to spot Barghestmon, but she couldn't make him out at all. Manimon avoided Joey and Amy's gaze. He'd really made an idiot of himself, and it made him think back to the fight against the agents.

He hadn't had time to feel sorry for himself when he'd come to, because Kid's appearance in the ward had distracted him from those things, and he'd managed not to think about his crushing defeat up until now, to spare his dignity. But what dignity was there left to spare? He'd run in cowardice from the one supposedly meant to be his teacher. Even a newbie like Laelapmon had faired slightly better.

"Manimon... you're too hot-headed, and proud." Joey said after a while. He noticed Manimon was still refusing to look up, so he turned him around in his lap, and lifted his chin. "You don't need to prove yourself to anyone- not me, not Amy, not Barghestmon. What you need to do is focus. Do you understand?"

Manimon bit his lip. Oh, he understood alright, but he didn't want to admit to it. Yes, he was hot-headed, and proud, and he needed to focus... but he didn't like this. He didn't like feeling like he was no good, or that Joey wasn't proud of him. Laelapmon gave him a sympathetic look from her spot in Amy's arms. She knew that feeling all too well, herself.

Since her problem of not being able to digivolve, she'd felt utterly useless. It was the most horrid feeling she'd ever experienced, and it often ate away at her, especially at night. She knew a lot of nights, Amy would lay awake, staring at the ceiling, just waiting until exhaustion caused her to sleep, because her thoughts were going everywhere, and it all bothered Laelapmon.

She felt she wasn't making Amy happy, wasn't taking her mind off things that were upsetting her, and wasn't helping the rest of their new team. Biting her lip, she tried not to keep thinking about it, but it was impossible. It was hopeless... just like her...

"Laelapmon?" Amy murmured, staring down at her. She felt a sinking feeling in her gut, that something was wrong, and she was right. Gently, she stroked the tip of her thumb just under Laelapmon's eye, brushing tears that were building up under them, but tears kept building up, until they spilled down her soft white cheeks.

"I... I'm useless to you, Amy..." Laelapmon muttered, her voice wracked with emotion. "I'm... no good... to you, or Joey... I can't digivolve... I messed up... I keep getting myself hurt, and being unable to protect you... I can't even make you happy, when you need it the most..."

Amy was taken aback. She bit her lip, unsure where to look. She wanted to look Laelapmon in the eyes, and assure her that was not the case, but the more she looked at the utterly heart-rending look in Laelapmon's eyes, the more she felt herself starting to get emotional too- not that it wasn't already happening.

Already, she could feel her arms shaking, and it wasn't from the cold air. Joey was trying to be polite and not look or listen in, and it was clear he wanted to say something, but felt it wasn't his place, or was maybe unsure. Manimon was staring at Laelapmon in dismay. All today had served to do was crush both digimon's spirits, and break Amy's heart.

"I know... I know about him... about Hiro..." Laelapmon continued, beginning to sob, "it's clear as day how you feel, how much it hurts... and it hurts me, too, to know you're in so much pain inside... and nothing I can do can take that away, or change what happened, or make things better..."

Amy hadn't realized she was crying, herself, until she felt the breeze flow past her wet cheeks. She couldn't believe now, of all times and places, they were having this conversation... over him, now. And she hadn't once considered Laelapmon's feelings on this. She'd known Laelapmon was worried, but not THIS worried.

She hadn't realized that by allowing herself to be gripped and dragged down to some dark place in her mind by her grief, she was dragging her partner down, too, and this was the consequence she had to face, even if it hurt, even if she wished she didn't have to hear it, this was what she had to take in.

"L... Lae..." Amy started, shaking all over, her voice wavering audibly. She lifted Laelapmon up more, resting her forehead against her partner's. She was a mix of emotions, frustration, sadness, grief, and shame, that Joey and Manimon had to witness this going on, but she no longer felt she could hold back.

"Laelapmon... what happened to him... was not your fault... it wasn't anybody's fault..." she sighed, more tears flowing down her cheeks, as Laelapmon slipped her eyes closed, hiccuping slightly from her own crying.

"I'm sorry... that I haven't been as supportive of you, as you've been of me... I know how much you worry, now... and I never really said to you, personally, just how grateful I am that you even exist..." she continued, cradling Laelapmon's body in her arms, "I don't mean for everything to get on top of me, and drag me down... I can't promise I can shake this feeling off... but..."

She paused, wiping her eyes, and lifting Laelapmon's chin up.

"I don't like seeing you sad, either... it hurts me, to know that I've given you reason to cry, and worry about me like this... I will try so hard to be stronger, just as much as you're trying now..." she murmured, giving Laelapmon's forehead a soft kiss. "You made one mistake, but that's okay. Nobody, and I mean nobody, is perfect. We all make mistakes and accidents... we all have off-days, and feel sad... but strength is having the ability to go on, even when faced with these things, okay...?"

"O-Okay..." Laelapmon sniffed, resting her head against Amy's chest, reaching one of her paws up to brush away her own tears.

"So... please don't say you feel useless, or worthless, or that you're no good, any more, Laelapmon..." Amy continued, "because not once, ever, have I ever felt that about you... I love you. You're very special to me. Alright?"

Amy jumped slightly when she felt Joey suddenly lay his coat over her shoulders, where she was still shivering. She blinked up at him, and then seemed to remember the reason everyone was here, and that he'd heard everything. She hurriedly got up and dusted herself down, looking away from him, though she did keep his coat over her.

"Maybe we should talk, ourselves, when we get home later..." he whispered to her, feeling perhaps now was as good a time as any to let her get Hiro's condition off her chest. She nodded, and he took note that she seemed a little uncomfortable, but that was to be expected. This had not been the best way to bring Hiro out into the open. "That's if you want to, of course..."

"Y-Yeah..." she replied back quietly, standing by his side, as Barghestmon seemed to be coming back out towards them. She tried to look more alert and attentive, even though her face was tear-stained.

Manimon bit his lip, and chanced reaching out to rest his paw on Laelapmon's shoulder. She jumped slightly, but then glanced at him out of the corner of her eyes, but then seemed to look back down at the grass. She still couldn't face the others, it seemed.

"Let's keep trying, Laelapmon." he murmured to her quietly, getting up. "Let's not give in to bad feelings... we have to keep going."

She nodded half-heartedly in response, and stood up, forcing herself to raise her head to meet Barghestmon's gaze. His stern red eyes seemed to narrow just briefly, as he looked her over. He'd seen from their body language that something had come up, but he wasn't going to halt their training, he'd decided.

"Are you ready to continue?" he asked them flatly, stepping back slightly. "We'll keep going until you succeed, no matter how long it takes. Understood?"

"Yes, sir!" Manimon saluted up at him, feeling a lot more confident. Fangs or no fangs, he wasn't going to let Barghestmon scare him about any-more. Looking at Laelapmon out of the corner of his eye, he gently nudged her paw with his foot.

"O-Oh! Yes, sir..." Laelapmon mumbled on being prompted to affirm her agreement to Barghestmon's order, and shook her head to bring herself more into focus.

Amy and Joey always ran with their digimon, to the best of their abilities, though always lagged back due to the digimon trio's superior speeds compared to their own. This continued until both humans could run no longer. Eventually, after several repeated attempts of clearing the forest, both digimon finally accomplished what Barghestmon expected of them, and to be sure they had got it ingrained into memory, made them repeat it another three times.

During another short rest, Barghestmon came forward and proposed his next step in the training, What he suggested did not please the four before him.

"Physical training, next. I want to test Laelapmon and Manimon's limits in how well they can defend you. Some digimon use the tactic of going for the tamer first, since your power supplies your partners with the ability to digivolve, and that means you will always have some advantage over them," the big dog stated, looking from one grim face to the other.

Joey pushed his glasses up his nose from where they'd slipped down a little, before speaking up, "and what does the physical training entail exactly?"

"You and Amy are to run, run like your lives depend upon it. I will be aiming all my attacks at you both. Manimon and Laelapmon are to act as your shields, and defend you from harm, and fight back," he responded, his red eyes seem to glow under the darkness setting over them all.

Amy and Joey both froze up as he said this, with Amy nervously leaning in to take hold of Joey's arm. What- did he expect two small rookies to achieve, fighting against himself, at the champion level, when he was obviously more experienced? This was cruel, and grossly unfair on the four. Both tamers felt whatever reasons the big dog had for this training couldn't possibly be valid ones.

"I object to this, Barghestmon!" Joey snapped, stepping forward suddenly. He was furious. How could he dare to even suggest something so outlandish? "I refuse to participate in this scheme of yours, and I'm sure Amy does, too!"

"This is the consequence of accepting a partner," Barghestmon retorted, padding forward. He lowered his head down, bringing himself face to face with the angered fair-haired office-worker. "This is the risk you take. Do you honestly think keeping this city safe will be as easy as just sending your partners out to battle, and expect nothing to happen to you, too? You must be alert, Joey. You must think on your feet, and be able to take care of yourselves, too. What use are either of you to your partners, held captive, incapacitated, or worse?"

Joey was shaking slightly from anger. Barghestmon had always frustrated him in some ways, with his vagueness, and constantly keeping everyone in the dark about everything, considering his grandfather's disappearance had been kept in the dark from him by both his family and his work place, he loathed people keeping secrets from him.

And he was growing further frustrated how Barghestmon had managed to make a valid point, too.

"This is a double-edged sword you both wield," Barghestmon continued, "especially if you truly wish to help, you must risk your lives for this cause. This is not some childish game, or a cartoon on TV... there are no extra continues, there is no 'see you next week' if something goes wrong. This training is for the benefit of you all, and like it or lump it, this will serve to show you just what is expected of you both as tamers."

* * *

Amy and Joey had never ran so fast in all their lives. Their chests hurt terribly, and they were both out of breath, but still running as fast as their legs would carry them. The tell-tale black and red flames from Barghestmon's attack glowed eerily after them, wrapping around trees without setting the foliage on fire, but the heat they could feel from the searing flames assuring that if it reached them, they would not be so lucky.

"G-Gale Blade!" Laelapmon cried, summoning all her usual wind-based daggers together to form a small sword, which was just longer than the length of her body. Biting onto the hilt, she slashed at the flames, gusts of wind streaming from the blade with every movement, and managing to rend most of the flames away from Amy and Joey.

"Moon Fire!" Manimon yelled, bursts of his white fire shot back and exploding apart on contact with the black and red flames, which seemed to halt the spectral fire's progress from getting any closer.

Just as Amy and Joey paused to catch their breath in the darkened woods now, their torches barely illuminating the inky blackness, there came the noisy jangling of chains all about them.

Chains like the ones around Barghestmon's neck seemed to spread and wrap around every tree surrounding them, like a web, trapping them in a strange and terrifying cage.

The spectral flames began to lick across the chains, forcing both humans back, their digimon almost backing into them.

"Stop it!" Joey yelled, above the roar of the fire, putting a protective arm around Amy, "This is enough!"

Manimon spat off to the side wearily, rubbing his arm. He'd scraped past a tree earlier, trying to keep up with the human pair, and had caught his arm on a low branch. The gash was still bleeding slightly, and stung badly, but he refused to stand down. "Bring it on, Barghestmon. I'M not done, yet!"

Barghestmon materialized into their makeshift arena, a smile forming on his dark-furred face. He circled them, in a slow, deliberate way, looking them all over, surveying the wear and tear everyone had accumulated during this dangerous game of tag.

"Do not give up now; if you allow yourself to feel trapped, then you've already given up. As long as you can fight, there is always a chance of victory!" he barked, beginning to move in close, "You have all done well to endure for this long. But it's not over yet... PHANTOM HOWL!"

The ghostly howl the big dog emitted sent out a pulse of energy, which hit Manimon like the force of an oncoming car, blasting him backwards head-over-heels through the air into the burning chains. He screamed in agony, as the flames singed and burnt at his body, causing further pain to his already wounded arm.

"Gale Blade!" Laelapmon shrieked, jumping past Joey who was hurriedly running over to get to Manimon. Her blade sliced at Barghestmon's chest, and he leapt back, the tip of the sword grazing through his thick chest fur, and drawing blood from a thin slash mark across his chest.

Grunting, he raised up one of his heavy paws, and brought it down hard on Laelapmon's body, his thick red claws gripping into her. His paw was bigger than her entire chest, and he was forcing a lot of his weight down onto that one paw.

"A-Agh...!" she gasped sharply, her small paws clinging to his, trying to force him off. Her head was throbbing and aching, and her vision was beginning to swim, where he was cutting off her air.

The big black dog's gleaming red eyes narrowed darkly, as he leaned forward bringing his face close to hers, his voice low and serious, "I am not convinced... of Manimon, I am sure of his courage... but you are holding back. Why?"

"I..." she sobbed, her entire body wracked with pain. She could barely make his face out, save for the fierce glow from his eyes piercing through the blurriness of her dimming vision. "I'm... not worthy... I'm no good... and I don't... want to hurt you..."

"Lies," he murmured, shaking his great head. Amy was behind him, trying to tug at his back leg, to force him off of her, but to no avail. His great tail swept her back, but she kept trying, shrieking at him to get off, between calling to Laelapmon to keep trying. "Do you not hear her? She wants you to keep going... as do I. You have so much potential, and you are wasting it, by not resisting..."

Laelapmon whined, crying out in pain as he applied more pressure onto her. His expression grew solemn, and concerned, before he spoke again.

"There was a time when I was in the same position as you..." he murmured, into one of her ears, his grip on her no less painful. "But if you will not fight for yourself, if you will not cling to life for yourself... then fight for her. Do not question your worth... the safety of the one you love is your true priority, Laelapmon... and if you do not realize this and fight back properly, I will bite Amy."

Laelapmon's eyes widened in horror at his threat. Whether he was seriously threatening Amy's life, or whether he was just trying to coax her to fight back, he got the result he'd hoped for- she found herself sinking her fangs into his paw, biting down as hard as she could, until the tang of his blood was on her tongue.

Finally, his paw withdrew sharply back, as well as a short snarl of pain from his jaws. A white burst of flame from Manimon, who was finally back up on his feet forced Barghestmon backwards, before he submit to the pair. All at once, the flames subsided around them, and the chains shattered apart into data, that faded off into the night sky.

Amy rushed to Laelapmon's side, hurriedly holding her up in her arms. She massaged Laelapmon's sore chest carefully as the small white dog took slow, deep breaths from where it still felt like she had a weight on her chest. Joey and Manimon stood just in-front of them, defensively, with Joey keeping his eye on Manimon, who was still a little unsteady on his feet.

Barghestmon was panting, and at first, they thought he was tired... but on second glance, they noticed a big smile on his face, and seemingly the foreboding, sinister air about him had vanished and been replaced, almost like he was a regular dog.

"Excellent. Maybe you don't see it right now, but you've done something most normal humans have never experienced, and hopefully never will with you defending the city," he spoke, his voice sounding full of praise, "As much as you all doubted yourself, you've proved to me you have what it takes. The drive to keep going, despite fear, despite being antagonized and hunted down by something twice your size and power, everyone kept going. This is the drive of the human spirit, and the bond between you as partners. A little sloppy perhaps, from this first session, but otherwise... I am impressed."

It took a while for his words to sink in, but eventually, everyone understood. They had been put through a tough endurance test, all together, and despite doubting themselves, despite their fears and worries, they had pulled through. They had survived an ordeal that was beyond what the normal people of everyday life, who had no idea Digimon were real, could comprehend.

The human pair digitized their digimon back into their D-Drives in silence, still trying to calm down from the tense battle, and take everything in. Barghestmon remained where he was, sprawled out on the grass, licking his paw where Laelapmon had bitten him, still looking pleased.

"Barghestmon..." Amy started, coming over to stand before him, her arms wrapped around herself nervously. Something had been bothering her, from the things he'd said. "I... there's something I've wondered, about you... how you encouraged everyone to keep going... how relentless you were... it's almost like, well..."

Barghestmon watched her carefully, his red eyes staring into her own. Amy hadn't realized it, but behind the fierce red glow, there was something seemingly lingering in the back... a sense of guilt, and sorrow. Something on a level she felt she could identify with, and Joey too, if his frustration would permit it.

"It's almost like, something very bad happened to you, and this training was your way of making sure it didn't happen to us, too... All this urging us to keep going, to be more careful, to focus-"

She stopped, when she saw a change in his expression. As she had guessed, there was sadness in those red eyes of his, that became more apparent in her assumption if only for a moment, before his expression softened, and he managed a small smile back for her.

"Yes. I made many mistakes, in the past... I lost many friends, due to the virus..." he stated, bowing his head slightly. "All of us struggling together, to keep moving. For the longest time, I had to learn to sleep light, sleep with one eye open... there was no telling when one of them would turn, next. Many of my friends I eventually had to fight to the death... and they would continue to come back, more decayed in appearance, their sanity long gone. They were no longer friends, just shells of their former selves. In the end, I was left alone."

Amy and Joey didn't know what to say, as they heard him out, recalling back to his past, and the losses he had suffered at the effects of the virus. Joey's anger towards Barghestmon had seemed to have all but vanished now, as the big dog continued.

"I truly was in the same position as your digimon, in the end. My spirit was crushed, my hopes were low. I couldn't go on, any-more... all around me, my friends were being destroyed, both internally and literally. I had lost everything," he murmured, the red glow from his eyes dimming down slightly, "but the discovery of the human world, and humanity, kept me going. I needed to find out why this was happening, I wanted to aid those seeking to find the solution. Many of us believed humans would bring salvation to the Digital World, and we drew inspiration from you. Your world was brought to it's knees, shook down to the very foundations, and yet, you kept on going, kept building up towards the skies. Things are still hard, and progress has been slow for you as a race, but you kept going on. This is why your species thrives at the dominant race in this world."

"You kept going, for your friends, and your world..." Joey murmured in response to all of this, "How long... have you been alone?"

"For over five years, I have been travelling through Japan, from sky island to sky island, working on my own against the threat. I did not wish to bring any more pain and suffering on anyone else... I could have easily allied with the resistance, or surrendered myself to Arch Angel, but I want to keep neutral... I do not want to pick one side over the other, for personal reasons." He replied, getting to his feet. He shook himself down, and peered up at the moon rising high over their heads. "This old dog isn't averse to learning new tricks. I am sure fate meant for us to meet, and for you to take responsibility and team up with the other two. If you were to ask me, last year, if I would take on 'students' and train them, and help in the forming of a team, I wouldn't have been able to answer... but I am glad fate played out this way. I'm no longer alone... and neither are you two."

Both Amy and Joey nodded, and gave him space to let him pass through. Just as Barghestmon was about to take his leave, he stopped, looking back over his shoulder a little.

"I'm sorry for any negative feelings you had to suffer, tonight... but please trust in me, that I only want what is best for you both."

"You're forgiven," Joey called, after a short silence, stepping forward to place his hand against Barghestmon's side, and giving him a little pat."Just remember, we're a team, now... and that means you, too. It's alright to be more open with us, you know."

"When the time is right for me to divulge more to you, I will be sure to remember that, Joey," Barghestmon replied. Amy hurried forward and gave him a quick hug, before the big dog took off into the night.

* * *

"Wow, Skyler's taking his time out there," Skye murmured, spinning around slightly on an old office chair.

Most of the Resistance were gathered together in the run-down and fairly dilapidated building that Skye and her brother Seth called a home, but for many people living in the Underworld, this was the condition all the buildings were in; in ruins, foul, dank, dark and often cold with puddles of water everywhere.

An old industrial barrel was over just in the middle of the room, with a small fire burning away, this being the main source of warmth, so everyone was sitting around it on a mishmash of assorted seating, with their digimon by their sides.

Everyone was decked out in the thickest clothing they could find, just to stave off against the cold. Skye had her usual cat-earred hat on, and a black hoodie over her dress. Her brother was wearing his own hoodie, and a pair of black fingerless gloves and his combat jeans.

Neon was wearing a thick black sweater, and baggy jeans with her usual mismatched stripy stockings underneath to keep her legs warm.

And lastly, one of the quieter members, Sayo, was wearing a thick knitted sweater, but was still wearing her school skirt and knee-length socks, and was shivering more noticeably than the others in the chilly room.

"He's still doing patrol, then after that, he said he was bringing back pizza," Seth sighed, reclining back in his own seat, and stretching himself a little. "By time he gets back, it'll be cold, and we'll probably end up throwing it in the fire, because that's all it'll be fit for when he gets his sorry ass back here."

Neon was bottle-feeding Cheromon some water. The local water digimon had produced so much lately that she was able to bring several extra bottles back, so she was able to make sure Cheromon was properly hydrated. Her small partner cooed up at her, and clapped her hands gleefully.

"Cheromon'll eat cold pizza, won't you, sweetheart?" she grinned, tickling her chin. Cheromon nodded, and rubbed her empty little tummy in anticipation; she'd eat anything given to her, so long as it was edible.

"Sayo, you want some water?" Seth called over. He took a deep swig from his own bottle, then wiped around the rim of the bottle-neck clean, offering it out to her. Skye puffed up her cheeks and interrupted, just as he was doing this.

"Seth! That is so rude, don't offer someone a drink from a bottle you've just drank from!" Skye sighed, folding her arms. Seth poked his tongue out at her, where he was used to being nagged by his sister on a daily basis. Cadmemon yawned and rubbed against her tamer's leg, before she added her own response.

"Oh, I'm sure Sayo wouldn't mind, either way..." Cadmemon called out in an off-hand way, though she snuck the poor blonde a sly smirk. She knew better than anyone that Sayo would accept anything Seth gave to her, even if it was worthless, she would cherish it like her greatest treasure- because for the longest time since joining the resistance, Sayo had been crushing deeply on Seth, and it was rather obvious to everyone... except for Seth himself.

"I-I really don't mind!" Sayo piped up nervously from her own seat, growing very flustered. She didn't seem to realize Cadmemon knew the score where she was concerned, and it didn't help her own digimon partner, Tanukimon, was in leagues with the shadow fox.

"Well, here you go, then." Seth sighed nonchalantly, growing a fraction impatient with Skyler's lateness. He tilted his head a little in confusion, since Sayo seemed to be shyly trying to accept the bottle without touching his fingers, in an increasingly flustered fashion, which Cadmemon was almost busting her gut over.

"T-Thank you..." she replied in a quiet voice, unable to make eye-contact with him. She lifted the bottle to her lips, and just as she helped herself to a mouthful of the refreshing liquid, her devious partner had to spoil everything.

"Ooooh~ an indirect kiss~!" Tanukimon called up from her seat against one of Sayo's chair legs. That one comment had Sayo's poor face exploding into a bright shade of red... and had her spitting her mouthful of drink right out in Seth's face.

Seth was frozen on the spot, stunned, with water dripping down his face. His hair had gotten slightly wet, as had part of his hoodie. Neon had ignored this little mishap as though it were an everyday occurrence, and was busy bouncing Cheromon up and down on her knee. Skye, Tanukimon and Cadmemon, on the other hand, were laughing their heads off.

"Oh don't look so stung, Seth. Your face needed a wash, anyway." Skye smirked from her seat, but almost fell out when he made a sudden lunge for her, his face red with humiliation and rage.

"You little bitch, Skye! When I get my hands on you, I'm kicking your ass!"

Whilst Seth chased his twin sister around the fire as if they were playing a weird game of duck-duck-goose, Sayo buried her own burning red face in her hands from shame, wishing the ground would just swallow her up whole. Apart from Neon, nobody heard the knocking at the front door, which she got up to answer, still seemingly oblivious to the chaos unfurling out in the living room behind her.

"Jeez Louise, it was about time you got back, Skyler!" she called, pulling the door open, "everyone's starving, and Seth is trying to murder Sk-"

But the visitor at the door was not the one any of them had been expecting.

* * *

Finally, Skyler was back. He'd flown on the back of his partner, Stratosmon; after doing a long night patrol, he'd stopped off and used what little money he had from his part time job as an apprentice mechanic to treat the others to pizza that night, but he had something more important to report. Something weird had happened on his patrol.

He banged on the door of Seth and Skye's place, which was situated up on a hill, far from the sea. In the distance, he could barely make out the night sky, and the sea. There was never any light down here, at least, not from the sun.

No stars, no sun, no moon.

Aside from the perpetual light from street lamps, every day was spent in an everlasting darkness.

"Yo, hurry up in there and answer the door, will ya? It's damn cold out here!" Skyler called, pulling his leather flight jacket around himself a little tighter. Chasemon – his small purple gargoyle-like digimon, who had de-digivolved from Stratosmon - now stood at his side, anxiously twiddling his claws together patiently.

Finally, someone came to the door and answered, ushering him inside into the light and slightly warmer room. He passed the pizza box to Skye, who had been the one to see to the door. He pulled his flight goggles off and set them down to one side, as Chasemon scurried over to the fire with the other digimon, rubbing his paws together in an attempt to get warm.

"Well, I'm back, guys. And we found some pretty weird crap going on in the sky, too," he said, grabbing a seat by the fire and sitting on it back to front, so he could rest his chin on the back of the chair.

"We've got news, too," Seth murmured, opening up the XXL pizza box and helping himself to a slice as everyone crowded round and got tucking in. "But anyway, you first. What'd you find?"

"It was snowing, really briefly, really out of season, too. Now the warmer weather's coming, we shouldn't be getting snow... the climate isn't THAT out of whack," he started, taking a large mouthful of his pizza slice before continuing, "more than that, there's digital residue in the atmosphere, the snow was giving off lots of it, I analysed it on my D-Drive."

Everyone paused briefly and gave each other concerned looks, before Skyler finished eating his slice, before everyone seemed to launch off into a discussion over this peculiar report.

"I'm guessing there's either a gateway in the sky, or a digimon that can fly is up there." Skye murmured thoughtfully, as Clefmon took a sneaky bite out of her pizza slice when she wasn't looking. "H-Hey, that was my slice!"

Seth had eaten his fill and was feeding the remaining slice he couldn't finish to Cadmemon, who always preferred eating out of his hands. She licked his fingers clean affectionately as he ruffled her ears, though his expression was one of concern. "Right, and then there's... our assignment."

"Assignment?" Skyler questioned, raising an eyebrow in confusion, as he fiddled with the tip of one of Chasemon's ears subconsciously. Chasemon sneezed a little and wiped his nose on the back of one of his wings and kept eating, though he looked so tired he almost fell asleep against Skyler's leg.

Neon spoke up from where she was sitting beside Sayo, now, both girls taking it in turn to feed Cheromon little bite-sized chunks of pizza for her meal time. "Yeah, assignment. Our... informant stopped by, reminding us of the debt we owed him. He wants us to repay a favour."

Cheromon began hiccoughing loudly, tearing up a little. Sayo cradled her gently and bottle-fed her some more water, stroking her soft fluffy ears.

"So what's the assignment, then? Everyone looks kind of deeply thoughtful an' stuff." Skyler sighed, folding his arms across his chest. He had a bad feeling it was probably something unusual, a task they didn't usually take up. He reached for a bottle of water, and started taking a swig.

"We're gonna abduct one of the girls we've been monitoring," Seth replied in an off-hand sort of way, which caused Skyler to choke and spit out his own mouthful of water, but thankfully, Seth managed to dodge out of the way this time. "Whoa, watch it, idiot!"

"Yeah, he's already had one shower tonight, he probably won't need another now until next year-" Skye snorted, before Seth jumped her from behind and caught her up in a noogie. She tried to prize his arm from around her neck, but he was too strong for her. Sayo giggled at the siblings little play-fight going on, still cradling Cheromon.

"Get bent, Skye! And stop derailing the conversation, you do this _every time_." Her twin growled, still grinding his knuckles against the top of her head, as she squealed out loud, begging for mercy.

Skyler sighed in exasperation, fearing he'd never get this assignment elaborated on. All though the Resistance took their work seriously, sometimes they'd lapse into petty arguments put down to the two 'leaders' having their clashes, due to Seth's hot-headed short-temper and Skye's snarking towards him and everyone else.

Thankfully, Sayo decided to speak up and elaborate on the issue, setting Cheromon down on the ground. The small electric gremlin skipped off and decided to attach herself to Cadmemon in a tight koala-cling, which caused the black fox to groan loudly in protest.

"We were asked to... extract... Amy Hughes and Laelapmon, one of the people Cadmemon and Clefmon were sent to investigate not too long ago," she murmured, fidgeting slightly with the hem of her sweater. She felt uncomfortable with this, but the Resistance had done crimes worse than 'temporarily bringing someone down to fix their D-Drive', or so they'd been instructed to do by their guest. Sayo made sure to highlight this being the purpose of the 'kidnapping' job.

"But is abducting her really necessary?" Skyler questioned, sitting forward with concern. This seemed a bit much, even for him, and he'd been friends with Seth and Skye longer than anyone else, due to them having been internet friends since childhood.

"You know the rules. People coming down here that are outside our circle, that we can't trust, have to be blindfolded or put out of it. We don't want them knowing the routes in and out of here... especially since she's with an Arch Angel employee." Seth cautioned Skyler, who nodded back in acceptance of the leader's reasoning. One could not be too careful with Agents constantly on the look out... especially since one of the Agents main objectives was to capture the Resistance and their digimon.

"Righto, then. So then, Boss, what's the plan?" Skyler asked, getting up to stretch his legs. Kidnapping some girl and her little dog seemed like a piece of cake compared to the infiltrations they usually did on Arch Angel.

Seth got up, too, and moved in closer to the fire. He stood, watching the flames burn as he went over everything in his head. They'd discussed this earlier before Skyler got back, and he was going through everything carefully, making sure there would be no pitfalls to the plan.

"Listen up, because this is important. Neon will be phoning Joey in advance to set a time and date, and get him out of the picture for a bit. When that day comes, she'll be heading up an hour or so early to make sure there's enough gap so that if anything happens, you guys have a clear window of a chance of grabbing her, and getting the fuck out of there."

Seth looked round the group, making sure everyone was taking it in. Neon's expression was unreadable; Seth couldn't make out if she was pleased with this, or not. He had some suspicions about her and Joey, but now wasn't the time to question things, and she'd already been the one to offer up and suggest that part of the plan.

"Next, we need to get the target out of her apartment, get her somewhere secluded. We don't want witnesses, or someone'll call the cops, and if our digimon get spotted, it'll be all over the headlines. Regardless, make sure you bring stuff to conceal your facial features... you never know if those Agent goons are on the loose. Skyler, you and Skye are pulling off the kidnapping, got it?"

"Roger that, Boss. 'The Two Skies' strike again, eh?" Skyler grinned, winking over at Skye, who rolled her eyes over their embarrassing duo nickname, due to both of their names containing 'sky'.

"So you grab her, knock her out with our special Sporemon sleep bombs, and make a quick getaway back down here, sharpish. It'll be faster if you can bring her out near one of the underground entryways rather than fly, because god damn, Skyler, you took so long tonight we seriously thought we'd get our Christmas presents sooner than the pizza." Seth sighed, leaning back against the wall of the lounge.

"Hey, shut yer mouth, goth-boy, or I'll shut it for ya!" Skyler retorted, making a rude gesture at Seth, which the dark-haired boy returned.

"If we can keep her knocked out, great. We fix the D-Drive, maybe have a poke around in Laelapmon's data a bit, and then our informant is coming to collect her personally himself." Seth finished, grabbing his bottle of water and downing the rest in one go, where his mouth had gone dry from having to relay the plan on for Skyler's sake.

"Wait, so this means you're alone with Sayo all day, then~?" Tanukimon called up from the back. Sayo's face changed to a bright shade of tomato red, as she hurriedly grabbed Tanukimon and pressed her hand over the cheeky raccoon dog digimon's mouth to silence her from spouting any more embarrassing questions.

"I'm gonna be running checks on the weather crap Skyler was talking about, and keeping track of the Agents. You guys know they go on out-of-uniform patrol now, too, so I want to make sure if they're anywhere near the extraction point, 'the two skies' have ample time to get away. Sayo will be helping me keep track of those areas and doing spot checks for any wild digimon activity in place of Skye." he replied, having completely missed the point entirely and what Sayo's crafty partner had been implying. Sayo wasn't sure whether she was glad Tanukimon's query had skipped past him, or disappointed, though she covered her face in embarrassment on catching Skye and Skyler smirking at her knowingly.

"Right, then. I guess that's it for tonight, guys." Seth yawned, stretching. He noted that all the digimon other than Tanukimon and Cadmemon were fast asleep on the floor, where it was very late now. "I guess it's time to hit the sack, then."

Due to everyone's housing circumstances, they all shared Seth and Skye's house on most nights, since it beat spending nights alone in freezing rooms in silence. Seth and Skyler shared a room, with the girls all squeezing into another room together, with the digimon often sleeping beside their partners to keep warm.

It had been many, many years since most of them had slept in a proper bed, in the warm, or woken up to the sun shining in through their windows. Trying not to think of times where a bed was more than just mattresses on the floor, everyone attempted to get some sleep, so that the following days could be spent preparing for the task their mysterious informant had given them.

* * *

Manimon watched Joey start polishing the ornaments up on the mantelpiece in their apartment for what seemed like the umpteenth time. He could tell he was nervous about something, but had been so excited about whatever it was on his mind he hadn't stopped humming 'It's a wonderful world' all morning.

"Something wrong?" he asked, biting into an apple from his seat on the couch. Normally he would watch TV, but when Joey was in one of his cleaning moods, Manimon became hypnotized. He was convinced Joey was a robot of the cleaning variety, because normal humans shouldn't clean this often, or find it this therapeutic, or so he thought. Sometimes if Joey was really hot and bothered over something, he'd go over to Amy's apartment and offer to clean her place up, too.

"No, nothing's wrong," Joey muttered, gliding past with the mop, cleaning the tiled kitchen floor from across the way. "Actually... yes... I guess I'm worried about something..."

Manimon hopped off the couch and headed over to the kitchen, still crunching away at the apple. He leaned against the side of the counter, staring up at Joey with puffy round cheeks full of apple chunks, in a way that made Joey think of Bugs Bunny.

"Go on."

"I have a problem." Joey sighed, pausing his cleaning spree to get himself a glass of milk. "A girl I met during the evening of Marina's concert phoned me up this morning, and uhh... well... she asked me out. On a date, I think."

"Wow, that is a problem," Manimon drawled, with a smirk, "What girl in their right mind would ask you out? She needs her head tested- wait, WHAT? A GIRL ASKED YOU OUT?"

Immediately, all the apple chunks in Manimon's mouth went spraying out all over the kitchen floor, whilst Manimon proceeded to fall into a loud coughing fit, sprawled out on his back in shock at this surprising turn of events.

"Oh, well _thanks_ for the encouragement, Manimon," Joey sighed, scrubbing the floor clean again. He nudged his foot underneath Manimon's behind and gently slid him out off the tiled flooring so he could continue his cleaning. "But I mean, it's been years and years since I've been out on something like this... and god, she's like nothing else..."

Manimon rubbed his tail where it had been smooshed against Joey's foot during being punted to one side, waving his paw about in a circular motion, gesturing for Joey to continue speaking.

"I can't really explain it... I feel like we really click. From what I've seen of her, she reminds me of someone I used to really like... all sugar and spice, and kind of naughty, and..."

"WHOOOAH there, Romeo, I don't like where this conversation is going! You save your fantasies for the bedroom and a box of tissues or something, my delicate ears need to spared from THAT." Manimon smirked, sneering up at Joey slyly, waiting to see his reaction.

Joey's face heated up so fast, Manimon thought his partner's steamed-up glasses would shatter apart from their frames.

"Oh shut up! I-It wasn't like that, and I certainly wouldn't do the thing you're implying I'd do, you sleazy little pervert!" Joey growled, shooting Manimon a flustered glare. The rabbit beamed from ear to ear over working the poor guy up, but decided to drop any more teasing of that nature.

"Anyway," Manimon spoke up after a short silence that had fallen over the apartment, as he watched Joey begin polishing up the dishes in the sink from last night's dinner. "You've got nothing to worry about. You're a swell guy, and hey, if she wasn't interested in seeing you again, she wouldn't have phoned. Just be yourself, and don't go in all high-hopes of coming back for some hoo-haa tonight and you'll be fine."

"You know, you could have just stopped at the phoning-back part," Joey muttered, his face all flushed again, "I'm not doing this for 'hoo-haa', if that's what you're calling it now. But I'm lonely on a level you and Amy can't really... help with."

Manimon knew what Joey was talking about. Relationships, of course... something Manimon often joked about, but he'd known Joey had been "lonely" in that sense for a while, and wanted someone to be close to.

"I can't say this will lead anywhere... err... I mean, she herself called it a 'date', but I mean, people have different ideas of what a 'date' is, and all... and I hardly know her..." Joey rambled on bashfully. He'd wondered if he'd see her again, the mysterious 'Kaide' from the bar, who in fact was not Kaide at all, but Neon, the girl who seemed to be keeping her true name away from him, not that he knew this. "God... I don't mean to sound over-excited or anything. I'm just nervous... I don't know what to expect."

"Well, if she's anything like what you've been saying, you can expect a darn good time out with her, eh? When is it, anyway?" his small rabbit digimon inquired, peering up at his friend curiously.

"Tomorrow, at 12:30pm. I'm so nervous, though. I don't know what I should wear, I don't even know what we'll be doing... she said she wanted to surprise me..." he sighed, already looking worn out. He stopped cleaning up, and instead went and busied himself with getting an outfit ready in advance, since he was still a bag of nerves over it... and in the back of his head, he was still thinking about the girl he'd left behind in England.

Manimon sighed in exasperation, he'd never be able to understand what Joey had to feel so nervous about.

* * *

Amy stretched and sat more up straight. She'd been up since 8, finishing up more of her assignment, and answering emails back and forth with her dad. He was contacting her every break time back at the University, and now it was around lunch time, he could be a bit more frequent with her.

He'd always been keeping check since she came over, asking her how she was doing, and how she was enjoying Japan. He'd decided not to mention Hiro, and Amy had yet to talk to Joey about it. She hadn't felt up to it after coming back from the training, and he'd respectfully given her some space. She would have put aside time for the discussion today, but he'd been invited out, so now she was spending the day with Laelapmon whilst getting work done.

Laelapmon was laying on her back, flexing her legs in time with the instructor on TV. She'd taken to watching fitness programs and exercising in time to music and the aerobics instructors on the shows, exercising for a viable amount of time each day, even since before the training had taken place. But now she was treating it more seriously. Unlike Manimon, who was a bit of a couch potato, she wanted to be prepping herself in the event Amy needed her, when they were out and about.

"Dad's lunch break is coming to an end," Amy called over, "and I feel up to going out for a bit, too. I haven't really had a chance to go out much since coming here, so I was thinking it'd be nice to really have a good look around... do you want to come too, Laelapmon?"

She sat over next to Laelapmon, and playfully began playing with her partner's paws, stroking her thumbs against the puppy digimon's paw-pads, and making her arms 'dance'. Laelapmon barked up in a giggly way, wagging her tail. Both of them felt a bit better now, and the day was certainly nice enough for a trip out.

"Alright. If we're lucky, we might be able to go to the park and I can come out of the D-Drive?" Laelapmon asked hopefully. She'd seen a dog training program on the TV earlier, and seen people throwing frisbees back and forth to get their dogs to fetch them, and wondered, since those people seemed to be having fun, if Amy would enjoy a game of frisbee with her. She made a mental note to remind Amy to buy a frisbee whilst they were out.

However, at this moment, Amy received a call... on her D-Drive. She almost jumped out of her skin in shock, and after pressing several buttons finally figured out how to answer it. She'd known about the call function, but only after Joey had walked her through all the options properly.

"H-Hello?" she asked, nervously. The 'caller' hadn't come up on the screen, so she was anxious who was calling, and how they'd contacted her.

"Amy?" came Joey's voice on the other end. "Hi, there's been a change of plans... I, uhh... well, the girl I was going to meet got called away. Rather than waste the day, I was wondering if you'd like to meet up with me? We can spend the day out, instead."

"Oh! I was about to head out, too. Where do you want us to meet?" she asked back, wondering if he was alright. He'd been so psyched about going out for a bit with this new girl he'd met recently, she wondered how he was holding up on being shafted like that. He sounded like he was keeping it together... but she couldn't be sure.

Joey thought for a bit, and finally gave her a time and place. Amy was to meet him at a café called Pink Songbird. She hadn't been to the street where this café supposedly was, but if she missed it, she could easily ask for directions.

"Alright, Laelapmon. We're meeting up with Joey, by the looks of things... but we'll still go to the park after, alright?" She patted Laelapmon's head gently and digitized her into her D-Drive, and a short while later, set off on her way.

* * *

"Excuse me... where is the Pink Songbird café?" Amy asked a man passing by some time later. She'd been looking about for ten minutes all over the place, but couldn't find it. The strange leer the man gave her made her feel nervous, and his reply even more so.

"You don't seem like the kinda gal that'd go to place like that, sweetheart" He asked, flicking the end of his cigarette butt away. Everything around here looked strange and unwelcoming, and this man was no different. Amy was confused as to why Joey would call her out to a place like this.

There were dozens of nightclubs, 'adult' entertainment venues, and adult shops about. It was almost like a red-light district around here, or so she thought. She wondered what the hell he was thinking, calling her out to such a place... this did not seem like a part of the city Joey would ever have called her out to before.

"It's down that alley, on the right." The stranger sighed, on seeing her expression fall, "Kids these days... you must be real strapped fer cash. You ain't the first young lady that's skulked on through these parts looking to get cash through that sorta stuff."

Amy swallowed hard, and mumbled something of a 'thanks for your help' and scurried away. She had a terrible feeling growing in the pit of her stomach. Something was telling her she was being set-up. Why would Joey do something like this?

Gingerly, she made her way down the alley, until she saw a bright pink sign with a picture of a bird, and fancy lettering spelling out 'Pink Songbird'... it was a strip joint. Amy froze on reading the sign. Was he expecting her to go inside? Thankfully, she didn't have to find out... it was closed. And it wouldn't even be open until late.

"Laelapmon..." she whispered down, clutching her D-Drive tight from nerves. She was glad Laelapmon was with her now, more than ever... the whole situation reeked of bad vibes. "I think something is wrong..."

Turning, she could see two people around her age approaching, their eyes fixed on her. One was a guy with mousy brown hair, wearing a leather flight jacket, and wearing flight goggles, and the other was a girl wearing a black dress and jacket, with a cat-earred hat. Amy clutched her D-Drive anxiously, as the pair both simultaneously reached into their pockets.

Her eyes widened in surprise on seeing them produce D-Drives of their own... they had realized digimon at some point, too, and she knew, she knew deep inside, from the looks on their faces that they were coming after her.

She turned and started running off down one of the side alleys, the pair giving pursuit. She could hear yelling, before two bright flashes filled the dark alleyway with light, the pursuing pair having released their digimon.

"You guys, get her!" yelled Skyler, readying some Sporemon-produced sleep bombs.

Chasemon and Clefmon took off, gliding down the alley straight for Amy. Just as it seemed they were going to reach her, something slashed past the pair of them, knocking them both to the ground, thin slash marks across their chests. Both digimon yelled out in pain, as Laelapmon stood, snarling, with her Gale Sword at the ready.

"Stay away from her," Laelapmon growled, thinking back to her training with Barghestmon, just as Amy was. If things got too much, they'd have to keep running, but for now, she was confident in herself enough that she would focus all her efforts on keeping Amy safe. She had done so against Barghestmon, and she refused to let this pair hurt her.

"Oh boo-hoo, doggy, so you got a mark on us!" Clefmon chirped, climbing back to her feet. "Prism Feathers!"

Plucking a handful of feathers from her feathery hairdo, Clefmon held them between her claws like throwing knives, before flinging them towards Laelapmon. The small dog swang her blade, managing to slice through most of the feathers, and deflect some of the others. Clefmon gave her a shocked, indignant look of anger. _Nobody_ reflected _her_ feathers!

"Heavy Metal!" Chasemon called in his soft Texan accent, as liquid metal coated over his body. He shot forward like a cannonball, straight for Laelapmon, smashing her into the wall.

"Now, Skyler!" Skye yelled over the sound of bricks being broken apart. She had quickly covered her mouth, as had Skyler, before he flung a small pouch straight for Amy. It burst apart at her feet, sending up a cloud of sparkling, misty pink powder, which got into her eyes and mouth.

She called out for Laelapmon, who was still struggling, being restrained back by Chasemon who was still coated in liquid metal, and Clefmon, who was pulling her back by her ears, both Resistance digimon keeping her in place. Amy's eyes began to lose focus, and she felt herself growing steadily more drowsy, everything going dark, and the sounds of her partner growing distant, until finally, she had lost consciousness and fallen into deep sleep under the effects of the sleep bomb.

The 'two skies' headed over. Skyler lifted Amy up into his arms, whilst Skye retrieved the D-Drive which had fallen from her grasp. Laelapmon was snarling, livid with rage, struggling to get free. She'd left bloodied bite and claw marks all over Chasemon an Clefmon's necks, and both were finding it difficult to keep ahold of her, as Skye approached. In a matter of seconds, Laelapmon was digitized forcefully back inside Amy's D-Drive at the press of a button, and stored inside of Skye's coat pocket.

"Right. We're done. Let's get out of here," Skye sighed, after checking their digimon over.

"She sure put up a good fight tryin' ter get free..." Chasemon sighed, licking his arms gingerly, where the marks left on him were still sore and painful, "She's got a wicked set of teeth, that 'un..."

"Nobody just deflects MY feathers! HUMPH!" Clefmon moaned, preening her wings, and straightening up her head-feathers more in frustration. Both Digimon were otherwise fine, however, much to the relief of Skye.

"Well, this was easier than I thought it'd be." Skyler said, peering down at Amy's sleeping face, "This weren't so bad after all, I'd do jobs like this more often if it means I get to carry cute girls back home!"

Chasemon grinned, his own cheeks going a little pink. He wouldn't have minded carrying a girl home, if he hadn't been so short. Skye and Clefmon simultaneously rolled their eyes and muttered 'typical men' under their breaths.

"But... honestly, Clefmon, did you HAVE to choose Pink Songbird of ALL places?" Skye sighed, nudging Clefmon with her foot. The little recorder digimon giggled in her usual bubbly way, and winked up at her partner.

"Of _course_ ~! It's just like me! A pink songbird!"

"It isn't, not really," Skyler grinned, as the four of them began heading over towards a large manhole, which Chasemon lifted up for them. "You're not a hot stripper."

Clefmon puffed her feathers up so much she almost looked like a powder-puff, her eyes going all shiny with tears of shame, making a squeaky little "ooooooohhhh!" in frustration over Skyler's comment, which had the other three burst out laughing at her, as the Resistance, with Amy in tow, vanished off one by one down the manhole to get through the sewers to one of the many numerous secret passageways leading down to the Underworld.

* * *

Joey on the other hand was having a much better time out. Neon had arrived in her usual mismatched socks, wearing a black leather jacket with numerous piercings in her ears and a long black shirt over her red shorts, which Joey had been expecting, since she wasn't the 'normal' kind of girl he'd have normally expected.

He'd come in a plain white t-shirt, jeans and a denim jacket, and had decided to wear contact lenses for the day, since his glasses made him feel too self-conscious at the last minute.

"Wow, you sure do look different without your glasses. You're almost like a different guy entirely." She commented, reaching up to brush his fringe out of his face so she could get a better look at his face, an action that quickly had his face heating up in embarrassment.

"I felt like something different, today..." He replied, glancing aside. He felt like a different person, too. Normally he wouldn't be doing something like this. He always made up some excuse or made himself too busy for it, but he'd been wondering if he'd see her again, and he hadn't expected it to be something like this. They'd kept in touch during text messages of a night time, but this had been the first time she'd phoned him up to speak again, and it had led to this.

They walked for a bit, talking to each-other like they'd been old friends for years. Joey felt so at ease, all thoughts bothering him about his grandfather and work going out of his head... completely unaware to what was taking place elsewhere.

"I know a great place we could have some fun. Fancy going ice skating?" She asked, grinning at him from his side. He blinked and stared at her, before feeling a little anxious.

"I don't know how to, I've never done it before..." he replied, his thumb stroking against the D-Drive in his pocket to try to calm his nerves down. Having Manimon close was the only thing giving him confidence, now. He'd permitted Manimon to address him as 'Chicken Sawyer' for a week if he backed out of anything that happened whilst with her.

"It's easy when you get used to it. You can hold onto me for support, if you like, I promise not to break out some wild stunt, ehehe..." She laughed, suddenly grabbing his wrist and running off with him, heading off for the ice rink. He was stunned... she really was reminding him so much of the girl he'd left behind... they were so similar it was scary, but they looked different.

They way they smiled, the way they just took control and led him off doing things he'd never dare to do on his own, the same spark of mischief in their eyes... they could easily have been sisters, if he didn't know any better.

Inside, he offered to pay, even though she had been adamant he didn't have to. He took note how happy she looked, pulling on her skates, whilst he shyly fumbled about with his. He grew further embarrassed as she knelt down in-front of him and helped him get his skates on, asking several times if they fit him alright, as he reassured her they were fine, and he was fine too... even if the last part had been a lie. He had butterflies in his gut from all the nerves.

"Alright then, Joey-boy, let's get skating!" she called, grinning at him. She stepped out onto the ice, skating out a little, before turning around and gesturing at him to follow after her. Gingerly grabbing the sides of the rink, he took his first ever steps out, his body going tense as he slid out towards her. He could feel his legs beginning to part too much for his liking, and he suddenly slipped forward, flailing his arms in a panic.

"Waaaaaaoooah God!" he gasped, his eyes going wide with surprise as he tilted forward towards her. Shutting his eyes tight, he braced himself in anticipation of hitting her, or the ground.

He made contact against something, but it wasn't what he expected... it wasn't the cold ice below their feet, it was soft and warm. Daring to open his eyes after the shock had vanished, he realized she had caught him... and was now holding him steady in her arms.

"Easy there, tiger." She smiled down at him, with half-lidded eyes. "Don't be too eager, it's only the first date, eh?"

Joey's face was glowing red as he carefully and slowly straightened himself up, unsure of where to look. He couldn't believe he'd just made a fool of himself in the middle of a crowded ice rink, and more importantly, her. "I-I'm so sorry!" he managed to stammer, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.

"It's cool," she replied, grinning up at him again. "Here... I'll let you hold my hand instead."

Joey felt her fingers entwine with his as she clasped ahold of his hand. She began to skate forward with him, showing him how it was done. He tried not to cling to hard to her, but he was still nervous... and a mix of emotions. He felt like he was beginning to lose track of time in here with her, as they glided together over the frozen floor.

His heart was hammering inside his chest a mile a minute, from nerves, from adrenaline, and because it felt... good, having someone's hand in his. Her own face was growing slightly pink from it, too, her own cool exterior faltering slightly.

Every time they glanced at each-other and their eyes met, both would get a little more flustered and look away, as they got more and more caught up in their moment. Neon had a growing weight on her chest... relief that she'd been able to pull off today, some warm, happy feeling inside that she wasn't sure she was able to identify... and a sense of guilt.

She knew Joey very well. Very, very well. And it seemed like, inside, maybe he was getting some familiar feeling about her. But she wasn't ready to tell him the truth just yet... especially not with them on opposing sides. He was with Arch Angel, even if only for his grandfather, and she was with the Resistance, both sides sworn enemies of the other, both seeking to take out the opposing side.

Their past history had already been so dicey as is, and now, fate had dealt them strange and conflicting hands to deal with... it felt unfair.

Before either could enjoy the moment any more, Joey's D-Drive began beeping away noisily, giving out a distress signal. He bit his lip angrily at first, thinking it was Manimon pulling some cruel prank to disrupt them, but it wasn't... not this.

"I'm so sorry... I need to take this..." he muttered. He didn't realize Neon knew what that sound meant, and hoped she only thought it was his mobile.

"Joey, before you go..." She murmured softly, giving his hand, which she was still handing a little squeeze. He looked down at her face, and the two held each-others gaze in silence, something seeming to build up between them.

"Y-Yeah...?" He asked nervously, his mouth feeling dry.

Suddenly, she tugged on his jacket a bit, bringing him more down to her level where she was slightly shorter than him, and gave him a sudden kiss, right on his lips. Immediately his face seemed to grow so red he was sure it could be seen from space.

"I had a great time today... I'd like to come out with you again some time."

Joey was speechless, his heart beating so hard in his chest in surprise of what had just happened that he was certain it was audible to her. She led him back over to the seating area, both of them stepping off the ice together as if in sync.

"You gonna answer the call, then?" She grinned playfully after a moment of letting it sink in for him. He shook his head and seemed to come back down from out of the clouds his head had temporarily got stuck in.

"O-Oh, yeah, sure... w-what about you?" he asked her, feeling guilty about having to call an early end to their time out.

"I'll probably head off for a bit... I've got ways of keeping myself occupied." She replied, patting his shoulder, "Don't be a stranger, yeah?"

And with that, she headed off out after returning her ice skates. Joey watched after her wistfully, almost completely forgetting about the D-Drive's signal until Manimon's yell caught his attention.

"Yeah, smooth moves, Casanova, but will ya freakin' pay attention?" Manimon growled up in frustration, looking borderline livid.

"What's wrong, Manimon?" Joey mumbled down in shame. Had Manimon seen what had happened? He couldn't have done. He didn't know, but Manimon had already met Neon... and if he'd seen, he would have been sure to raise a stink over this fact.

"Laelapmon contacted me... two guys from the resistance just gassed Amy and shut Laelapmon up in the D-Drive... Joey, Amy's been _kidnapped_!" he yelled, giving his tamer a dire look of urgency.

It took Joey a moment to process this information. He was stunned. This couldn't be right, surely... what would the Resistance want with her? He felt wretched. Here he'd been, lost in a world of his own, and having briefly ignored a distress signal... he wanted to punch himself. "Where are they now, have you got a location?"

"Yeah, they're right on the other side of town, though... you couldn't have picked a worse place for a date... by time we get there, she could've gone anywhere, now..." Manimon sighed, nursing his temples where he felt the stress giving him a pounding headache.

Joey went to dash out but forgot to take off his ice-skates first, and ended up tripping up and falling over a woman and her kid. He swore, tore his boots off and retrieved his proper shoes, before dashing out down the street as fast as his legs would carry him, making a bee-line for the subway. Running alone would not be enough to hurry him to her location.

* * *

Amy slowly opened her eyes. Her head throbbed, and she felt like hell.

She'd been asleep, but for just how long? It was impossibly dark inside the room she was in, and the air was stale and dank.

Sitting up, she cringed. She'd been laid out on an old mattress, with a worn looking blanket laid over her. Where was she?

She felt for her D-Drive... and failed to find it, anywhere on her. Panicking, she jumped up, and checked around the mattress, in-case it had fallen out- but it had gone, vanished. She made a grab on the door handle, but she'd been locked in.

"Let me OUT!" she screamed, beginning to bang on the door, banging her fists against it futilely, to no avail.

Eventually, she heard footsteps approaching... someone was running outside, coming for her. Immediately, she stepped back, as the strangers at the door opened up.

"Whoah now, calm down, will ya?" asked Skyler, who had cautiously opened the door. He failed to see her coming at him with her fists balled up, as she swung a punch at him. Her fist connected with his cheek and she nearly managed to knock him backwards, as he yelped in pain.

"Shadow Attraction!"

Immediately, inky tentacles began to creep up her legs from under her, binding them together, slinking further up her body to restrain her arms and hands, too. She stumbled from trying to wriggle free, and fell, before the girl at the door managed to catch her. She looked worried, shivering slightly as Amy shrieked for help and continued writhing about, trying to free herself.

"Calm down, you crazy bitch..." Cadmemon sighed, her paws still glowing with black energy, which was flowing into Amy's shadow and was the cause of the shadow tendrils restraining her. "We're not going to hurt you."

"Who the hell are you people, what do you want with me, and where am I?" She snarled angrily, the girl who as holding her blanching back slightly from nerves, "what have you done with Laelapmon?"

"Please listen!" Sayo, who was the one currently holding onto her, said. "Laelapmon is fine. You're safe. Nothing will happen to you, or her... this is simply what we have to do, to keep this place a secret. It was either sleep bombs, or blindfolding you, and Seth doubted you would willingly come with us under blindfold..."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Amy snapped back, glaring at them all. Skyler was still rubbing his face where she'd hit him, though he was grinning away like a moron at her. He stepped forward shakily, his head still dizzy from the hit, and spoke up.

"You're a feisty one, aren't you? I like that, that's cute." He grinned, still nursing his sore face, "Look, you're with us, the Resistance. Someone, a friend of yours... we owed him a favour, and we're repaying what we owe by fixing your D-Drive. We heard you and little Laelapmon had a lock preventing her from digivolving... well, we're gonna sort that out for you, alright?"

"W-What...?" Amy asked, all the anger seeming to leave her, and being replaced by shock. She didn't know what to believe. She'd just been whisked away off the street, and brought down here without consent, and they were doing this to _help_ her?

"I'm really sorry we attacked you earlier... but we can't bring people we don't trust down here. Not when there's so much at stake. If you were 'bugged' in any way, like with a tracking device, or able to call for back-up, or told anyone about how to get down here... it'd be bad news for us." Skyler explained, folding his arms, "I know that must sound like a load of bull to you, but..."

"It's the truth..." Sayo sighed, folding her hands in her lap. "Agents are always trying to track us down, and stop us. They're up to something, and we think that they may have some ties with the problems going on here... and the Digital World."

"Right... so if we're taken out by their much more numerous work force, both worlds are as good as done for. We're the only group still left that's able to fight back. All the others were wiped out- the ones overseas, I mean," Skyler continued, leaning against the door frame.

Amy continued giving everyone present a sour look, but she began to calm down more as she heard them out. She was still sceptical, and still upset over being taken by them, but she listened. Cadmemon began to loosen her grip on her gradually, when she could sense her nerves calming down more.

"We've... umm... we've kind of had you 'checked out' by Cadmemon and Clefmon, to see if you and Joey were a threat..." Sayo admitted, carefully trying to word this all in a way that hopefully wouldn't freak Amy out, or set her off into another rage, though this was clearly almost sending her over the edge again. "We do this to everyone who realizes a Digimon that we come across... we just want to make sure people won't misuse their Digimon to cause havoc in the city..."

"You... so you guys are trying to keep the city safe?" Amy murmured, rubbing her arms and legs after being released, her joints aching slightly after being kept in this damp room, though looking past them into the corridor revealed the rest of the building seemed to be in a similar state.

"Yes... digimon have already been killing people here for many years, and we're trying to prevent any more lives being lost... when Arch Angel first started 'producing' digital assistants, not long after, the virus apparently started ravaging the Digital World," Sayo explained, sitting beside Amy on the mattress, "We're convinced that Arch Angel is up to something big, and we keep finding evidence that supports our theory... on top of this, employees of theirs who dig too deep past their station, so to speak, suddenly disappear..."

"Joey's grandfather..." Amy murmured, her blood running cold. He must have realized something was going on, too, and investigated, and got caught... she dreaded to think of how she would explain this to Joey...

"People go missing even outside of Arch Angel, though," Skyler added, his expression growing dark, "We lost one of our own, too. Our original leader, Zeke Grimshaw, was doing his investigations when the portals first started up... he went through, and some time after, we lost all contact with him. There's many people going missing that the government doesn't tell you about... this has been going on for years now, going on for at least ten or so, maybe even longer."

Amy was taking this all in, in silence. She'd gotten the impression that the Resistance were something akin to a gang causing trouble, or some group of radicals... but they were people who had lost someone important, and were trying to stop all these terrible things from happening to others, and had the power to do so, and so were doing something about it.

"Do you know what they do to Digimon they find, Amy?" Cadmemon asked, from off to the side. Amy shook her head no, a horrid feeling growing in her. "They _kill them_ , in cold blood. Even ones who passed through because they were _terrified_ , trying to escape from the virus... Ones that begged for mercy, that came in _peace_. Arch Angel views them as vermin, whilst seeing their own as tools, weapons..."

Amy swallowed back a lump forming in her throat. It pained her especially to think back on what Barghestmon had said after the training... he could have _surrendered_ himself, he had said. Given himself up, like a wanted criminal... and he had been trying his best to do the right thing, for both worlds, and he would be hunted down and killed for it with the exact same prejudice that a wild, antagonistic digimon would be, the same if Laelapmon and her friend's digimon would if they were caught.

"Alright, Cadmemon, that's enough. You're upsetting her, now," came another voice from the door. Seth appeared, his expression still stern, as he looked in on everyone.

Immediately, everyone present besides Amy stood to attention, with Sayo helping Amy to her feet. Cadmemon nuzzled against her beloved tamer's legs proudly, her two shadowy tails stroking against his legs like smoke.

"The D-Drive is fixed. All the locks were removed, so Laelapmon shouldn't have any more trouble trying to digivolve, now," he commented, Amy's face lighting up in excitement.

"Does this mean I can see her, now?" she asked, giving him a hopeful look. Sayo smiled at Seth encouragingly, and he nodded back in silence. "Oh, thank god!"

Seth lead her out, accompanied by the others, into what appeared to be a giant hall. There was a massive screen almost taking up an entire wall, surrounded by dozens of other, smaller monitors. There was several broken terminals... the entire thing looked like something out of a science-fiction film.

"This used to be an army base, or so we gather," Seth commented, as they headed through the gloom of the great hall, "We use this as our base of operations... and we house perhaps the best inventor on the planet, who rivals even the best super computer humans could ever make."

Amy could make out, in an adjoining hall, where the wall had been caved in, with a large iron beam wedged sideways from the ceiling into the cracked concrete flooring, a giant reptilian figure, akin to a salamander or a lindwurm. It was sorting through a pile of junk building up around it with it's large claws very carefully, two stubby remains that were possibly once legs barely visible down it's impossibly long body. It looked ancient, despite the machine-like body.

"Chasemon, yer a star, helpin' get more materials," the figure spoke, in a similar Texan accent to the much smaller Chasemon, who was lugging various scrap metal and old computer parks over for the bigger digimon to fiddle with.

"SysOpmon" Seth called up, "Laelapmon's partner's here, why don't you introduce yourself to her?"

Skyler grinned and called up from behind everyone, "yeah, say hello, you anti-social old git!"

SysOpmon's glowing eyes pierced the gloom like bright headlamps, lighting up most of the hall around them. The many wires protruding from his body were pulled taut, attached to something so far up above them that they vanished into complete darkness. Whatever he was attached to, he heaved himself around using his wires, shifting his gargantuan self to face them all. Amy trembled slightly as he brought his head forward, his breath ruffling them all like the wind, as he looked her over.

"So... yer Amy, are ya?" SysOpmon spoke, in a voice that was not as loud or booming as one would expect from someone his size. "I must say... yer partner is... somethin' special."

"What does that mean?" Amy asked, her legs feeling like they were made of jelly. She'd never seen anything so big in all her life... there were digimon really this big? She could hardly believe it. It was shocking.

"Heh... never-mind. What's more important is you wanna see 'er, I take it? I'm th' one that fixed 'er up, good as new. I 'spose you don't know, but my kind were ones designed by Yggdrasil to help maintain the technology of the Digital World..." the giant metallic dragon explained, in a lazy-sounded voice. "Though right now, I'm in these young scamp's care an' hospitality servicin' their machinery and what have you... such as yer D-Drive fer example."

A small, thin wire appeared, wrapped around her D-Drive from above, hanging down directly before her. She held her hands out, and he released it into her hands, as she felt herself tearing up, on both having Laelapmon back, and knowing the thing that had been worrying her digimon so much was now gone, meaning she could perform at 100% like she'd always wanted to.

On realizing Laelapmon, the two clung together tearfully, Amy on her knees with Laelapmon hugging into her shoulder tight. The resistance members all smiled a little to themselves over the reunion, their request now fulfilled.

"Ain't that just the sweetest?" Chasemon commented, wiping big bloopy tears from his own eyes, his nostrils running a bit. SysOpmon dropped another wire down, this time in-front of Chasemon, holding a box of tissues, which Chasemon used to wipe his eyes and blow his nose into loudly.

"Ain't it just!" SysOpmon laughed, grinning like a shark. "Well, if that's all yer needin', I'mma be gettin' back to fixin' up our new server."

"Well... there we go. That's our debt repaid..." Seth sighed. "Amy... you're gonna have to be blindfolded now it's time to go back. Otherwise we have to keep you here, you know."

Amy laughed awkwardly, hoping he was only joking about the last bit, which thankfully it turned out he was. She reluctantly accepted her fate of being blindfolded by them, with Skyler taking hold of her again.

"I bet you feel like a bride, being carried about in my arms like this," he grinned down at her, as he started off with Skye by his side once more, as they headed towards an old service elevator that lead part ways back up to the 'overworld'.

"Not really, I just feel like you wanted an excuse to hold me in your arms," Amy replied, poking her tongue out at him. "Oh, um... sorry for punching you earlier, too... but I didn't know what was happening..."

"Nah, it's cool, I understand. I'd hit me too if I saw my ugly mug at the door as well," Skyler laughed.

"Amy, the person who asked us for help said you guys are fighting for the city, too... you know, if you ever need our help... just pass on the word to your friend, and we'll be there," Skye commented, as they road up in the elevator. "We owe him so much, so if you're a friend of his, you're a friend of the Resistance, too."

Amy wondered who this supposed friend was, who had instructed them to do all of this. She didn't have long to wait to find out.

* * *

At least half an hour or more later, the small group finally reached the surface, coming out from an abandoned warehouse that had a series of old underground storage halls. Once everyone was safely outside, Amy's blindfold was removed, and she let Laelapmon out once more so her partner could stretch her legs after being stored inside the D-Drive long enough.

The sun was setting down over them, and there was a noticeable chill in the air, very unusual for this time of year, with summer approaching. Amy saw three figures approaching from just outside the rusty old warehouse gates.

"Joey!" Amy yelled, sprinting across to him, and he to her, their arms outstretched.

"Oh god, Amy, I've been so worried... I thought something terrible happened, I got Laelapmon's distress signal too late..."

Laelapmon and Manimon were also hugging one another tight, where they'd both been so worried about each-other. She was licking his face all over, in gratitude, with him making loud "ptooie" noises in response, but otherwise unable to stop smiling.

"And... don't tell me... it was you, who asked the Resistance for help..." Amy murmured, staring up into none-other than Barghestmon's face. The big dog smiled down at her, and nodded his head.

"Yes. I hope they weren't too rough on you, what with their specific rules about outsiders and all..."

Skye and Skyler both shuffled awkwardly where they stood behind everyone, and tried not to look too guilty and embarrassed over it all.

"I bumped into Barghestmon trying to track you, and then he explained everything... naturally I was surprised, but... well... you're alright, and so is Laelapmon, and that's all that matters, right?" Joey said, patting Amy's shoulder affectionately.

"Yeah, we're both alright," Amy replied, managing a smile. It felt good to be back up on the surface, under the sun, with clean, fresh air. "Thanks for getting help for us, big guy, even if you are naughty about how you go about your business!"

Barghestmon grinned as Amy poked him on the nose. Laelapmon padded over, and jumped up several times to get his attention in trying to also reach his nose. He lowered his head down to her level, and she proceeded to shower him in gratitude.

"Thank you so much, Barghestmon! I feel like I'll be a whole new digimon, starting from tomorrow!" she barked, peppering his nose with many licks and kisses.

"Well, don't change too much. I'm quite fond of the digimon you are now," he replied, pressing his nose against hers before giving her own little nose a lick with the tip of his tongue. A slow, full-body shiver travelled all the way up from the tip of her tail to the ends of her ears, which were standing right on end, as she fell backwards onto her back from surprise. Barghestmon grinned down at her hot-pink face, whilst everyone else laughed.

"Oh... if it wasn't Joey that called me out, then who was it?" Amy asked, remembering how Joey had apparantly called her D-Drive, "And how did you guys get my D-Drive's number?"

"How we got your number is a secret," Skyler smiled, "As for 'Joey' calling you, then, well..."

"That was _me,_ " Clefmon called, in a flawless imitation of Joey's voice, which looked ridiculously out of place out of the mouth of a small pink bird digimon.

Now that Amy's last questions were answered, it seemed like everyone was about ready to go back to their respective places.

"Oh, cripes... we gotta go. Seth was gonna tell me about the weather update... I take it you'll be joining us, Barghestmon?" Skye commented, suddenly remembering the other thing Seth had been looking into today. Amy and Joey both looked over in curiosity, but Skye gave them both a dismissive sort of look.

"What weather update? What's going on?" Joey asked, looking confused.

"You guys go home and rest... whatever it is, we've got it covered." Skye replied. Barghestmon headed past, and Skye patted his nose, before commenting on how wet it was from Laelapmon's numerous public displays of affection, and he proceeded to wet her nose back with another lick.

After seeing each other off, both parties went their separate ways.

* * *

"Just as we suspected, there's a digimon causing the weather changes," Seth muttered, leaning against the vast array of buttons in-front of the giant screen in the Resistance headquarters.

"Oh great," Skyler responded sarcastically. "There goes our upcoming summer vacation. Instead, we'll be having a snowboarding holiday before long."

Screens with analysis of the digital residue that Skyler's D-Drive had analysed were bought up, as well as scans from the sky and various other numerous data files. The members, and Barghestmon, all assembled together, read through, as SysOpmon spoke out from the other hall.

"I sent out some of our reprogrammed Oculusmon, and got them to do a bit of scouting. It's an ice-bird digimon that's causin' this stuff fer sure," the giant reptile explained, "Worser still, the sky is full of the stuff... I reckon' at this rate, we're in fer a snow storm. For whatever reason, it's been holdin' off on making the snow fall, though, and I ain't been able to get a track on it... it could be anywhere by now."

"Right, first thing tomorrow, everyone that's able to is going out scouting for this ice-bird. This smacks of trouble," Skye instructed, folding her arms across her chest. "We need to get to the bottom of whatever's going on up there, before whatever's gonna happen, well... happens."

"Right, I guess this means we grab whatever weapons we can, and get all our supplies ready... you know, in-case it really does snow-storm out there," Skyler called from his seat. All of the Resistance's digimon seemed to be psyching themselves up in readiness for what was to come.

Barghestmon, however, had a bad feeling that something terrible would happen, but chose to keep these feelings to himself.

* * *

That night, at around midnight, the sky, which was heavily clouded over now, began to snow.

High over the city, invisible to the people far below, the ice-bird digimon flew, the air surrounding it's body chilling to ridiculously low temperatures. Every cloud it passed, or flew through, began to snow all the more heavily.

With a single loud cry piercing through the darkness, the snow began to pick up, and before long, a blizzard had formed, beginning to bury the city under thick blankets of snow.

This was a blizzard; it didn't intend to stop calling down, until everything would resemble an Arctic wasteland


	7. Episode 7. Hell Freezes Over

Episode 7. Hell Freezes Over

* * *

Laelapmon looked around, shivering on the spot. It was cold, and she was alone, in a strange place. 

All around, it was pitch-black, the darkest night she'd ever experienced. Above her, the twinkling stars were the only light in this strange place, devoid of any other creature, or scenery. She found comfort in the stars, and focused on them, in an attempt to get her mind off of the overwhelming sense of dread and foreboding still growing in the pit of her gut.

Time seemed to tick on for eternity, before a change in the endless expanse of stars caught her attention, and had her reeling back in surprise. A giant red rift, full of swirling cosmic dust, ripped across the night sky, and what seemed to be four oddly placed suns, giant stars of fiery gold radiating out heat.

It's only when she looked again, did she realize it was a _giant face_ in the sky glaring down at her, the giant, jagged red mouth seemed to form a swirling vortex that was trying to draw her in, as the whole sky seemed to distort and warp and bulge out towards her... the sky literally beginning to descend down over her, the rift-mouth making a gut-wrenching cry that made her feel horrified and ill.

Turning, she began sprinting off, every foot step leaving sparkling ripples on the black surface of wherever it was she was running on. It felt like she was wading through sticky treacle, or like her body was being weighed down on... It took all of her willpower just to keep running, until she seemed to run out of ground, and found herself plummeting over an invisible edge, into a vast, darkened void, which seemed to get brighter and brighter the further she fell...

Waking with a jolt, Laelapmon sat up, trembling all over violently. She was in Amy's room, still partially buried under the blanket, right where she'd crashed out asleep on getting home. Amy wasn't present, and the small dog digimon wondered why Amy was up so early, since it was still rather dark outside... and also why it was so cold inside the apartment.

She tried to shake the feelings of anxiety and paranoia that had happened in the dream... it had felt so real, in a way that had terrified her badly. But it was just a dream, or so she kept reminding herself as she started to untangle herself from the folds of the blanket. The little white digimon decided the best thing to take her mind off of the nightmare was to busy herself with other things.

Checking the clock, Laelapmon's suspicions were confirmed; it was around 5am in the morning. Amy never got up this early unless something was bothering her, or she had a bad night. Padding out, Laelapmon's first and foremost priority was to check on her partner.

"Amy...?" Laelapmon called, coming out into the lounge. Amy was sitting at the terminal built into the wall, D-Drive in hand. "What's going on?"

Amy looked over to her digimon, unable to hide her growing concerns. She'd drunk through two mugs of coffee to perk herself up and get warmed up. She was wearing at least two thick woolly sweaters and her heaviest coat, as well as two pairs of her warmest jeans and thick woolly socks and slippers just to stay warm.

"Sometime during the night, there was a heavy blizzard... the heaviest there's ever been. The news has been calling it a 'mini ice-age', and everyone is snowed in..." she murmured, pulling an extra chair up to the terminal for Laelapmon to sit on. As Laelapmon read the news report on the terminal, Amy continued keeping her updated. "The power only just came back on, it was out for hours... and the heating is still broke. The power and gas companies equipment failed because of the extreme weather... The water lines have actually frozen over..."

Laelapmon thought back to the previous day. The Resistance had mentioned something about the weather, too...

"Wait... Amy, didn't the Resistance say they were looking into this, too?" Laelapmon asked, looking from the screen to her partner. "They said they were investigating into it, or something?"

"Then as I suspected, this blizzard IS the work of a digimon..." Amy sighed, pulling her coat around herself some more. Even with the layers of clothing she'd built up, the cold was still too over-bearing inside the apartment. "I knew it... this weather is just too extreme and unnatural to be anything else. I had my suspicions because of just how sudden this was... Over the night, the snow just kept rapidly building up... the entire ground floor, the snow is up past the door... even if we could get out, we'd need to dig ourselves out just to get free."

Laelapmon felt nervous, and not just over the nightmare she'd had. What if the blizzard didn't stop? What if they couldn't get out? What if the heating never came back on? It was cold enough, but if it got any colder in here, Laelapmon feared the worst for Amy and the other residents.

"Nobody's been able to get out... we can only last so long in here..." Amy murmured. "I've been trying to contact the others, but they haven't responded yet..."

Both of them sat in silence, Amy trying over and over on her D-Drive fruitlessly trying to get through to someone - anyone - for help, and to see if they were okay. Eventually, Joey managed to pick up.

"Amy? I've been trying to get through for the past hour..." Joey's voice sounded through the speakers. He sounded tired, and his voice was shaky from the cold.

"Same here..." She replied. Finally hearing another person's voice in this nightmare seemed to bring her a little short-lived comfort. "I can't get through to Marina or Darren, either. The weather has caused the power to die, so that made the entire building is in security lock-down... We can't even leave... Even though the power is up, the doors are still locked up, and the metal shutters are over all the windows."

There came a short pause, where everyone was shivering in their freezing homes, before Joey managed to take a deep breath and respond.

"Don't worry about this, I've been cracking away at the security code all morning so that I can get to your side... with any luck, I'll be done soon, and I'll be over as soon as I can."

By time it was 7 am, a gruelling 2 hours after Laelapmon had first awoken to the mess of a situation, the door suddenly unlocked itself and slid open with a mechanical whirr and click, as a 'test'.

"My door opened on my end," Joey called out over the D-Drive, "if I did this correctly, yours should be open, too."

Amy stood up from her seat and went over, peering out into the hallway. Every other door was still closed. It was eerie and quiet in the halls, the only noise being the blustery icy winds outside, and there was chilled air seeming to pour in from the vents in the hall, which had her hastily retreating back inside.

"Mine is, too... but the others are closed." Amy replied, standing beside Laelapmon, and stroking one of her ears to help soothe them both from the anxious feeling that had been plaguing both for hours.

"It'd take me too long to open each and every door manually... besides, I think it would be safer on the other residents if they didn't go fleeing off into the streets... there's no telling what's out there right now." Joey murmured back in concern, rubbing his chin.

"You have the same thought? That a digimon is behind all of this?" Amy enquired. She felt certain this was beyond normal, it truly couldn't be anything other than a digimon, everything pointed to it being the work of one. Even the Resistance had been concerned about it enough to look into it, which had been proof enough.

"Yes... it couldn't be anything else, could it? We need to contact the others, and make some form of plan. This can't go on any longer, Amy, or everyone will be in grave danger, worser than we're in now... I'm coming over. Let's start strategizing."

* * *

Everything was dark and empty at the city's largest airport. There were no employees, no tourists, no people at all.

Out on the runway, the aeroplanes were parked and abandoned, buried under snow. The blizzard had ensured nobody at all would be at work today, or even leaving their homes.

In the largest, most open area near the waiting area where people would have waited for their flights, there were now amassed a sizeable group of digimon - enough to make a small army. There must have been no more than 100 in total, gathered in silence. Various icy digimon, mostly being SnowAgumon, SnowGoburimon, Frigimon and Mojyamon.

Ahead of the large group sat a snake woman, lounging sideways on a bench, her long serpentine tail sprawled out part-ways up the row of seats before trailing off onto the floor. Her green snake-like hair was constantly moving, the heads constantly peering around and always keeping watch, allowing her to see all around, even though her own eyes were covered by wrappings, except for a third eye on her forehead, which remained closed.

This was Medusamon, and she was the leader of this group of motley digimon, and she lay in waiting for her second-in-command to finish scrutinizing a map of the city nearby.

"Any ideas from where we go from here, sir?" a SnowAgumon asked said second-in-command standing at his side. The digimon he was addressing was the huge bird that had been responsible for burying the city under heavy snow, and ensuring their upcoming journey would go uninterrupted.

"We'll need supplies, of course." Sastrugamon, the large bird digimon, replied. His bright yellow eyes never once leaving the map. "We came through with barely anything to last us, after that damned Ikkakumon destroyed our last food storage hut..."

A Digital Gate had opened up in Medusamon's lair, back in the digital world. It had opened up right in the basement of her former fortress, and linked to an older and unused hangar that needed repairs right at the end of the runway, and had thankfully gone unnoticed by the humans. After scouting it out for a few days, she and Sastrugamon had hatched a plan to come through.

The Gate had been a blessing - a huge risk, but a blessing nonetheless - as it had allowed them to escape otherwise certain defeat, and death itself, where they had been in their last defence against the infected Ikkakumon that had single-handedly eradicated their otherwise large army down to absolutely pitiful numbers now.

The spread of the strange virus-like 'growth' had swallowed up the entire other-side of their mountain home, causing many surviving digimon not eaten up by the growing wave of darkness to seek shelter at their castle. Leaving the fortress was not an attractive option. At first, the pair had been planning to invade the neighbouring castle on the mountain range in the distance opposing theirs, to escape the steadily creeping threat behind them, and ensure more safety against the growing number of digimon who were slowly falling ill to the effects of having a 'dark zone' so close by... and then the worst had happened.

A digimon so far gone with infection it no longer seemed to be capable of rational thought or logic appeared and began destroying everything in sight. A siege had occurred, with many of their number fighting day and night at the gates trying to keep the ungainly beast at bay, those not dying in battle falling due to exhaustion or starvation; practically fighting their way to their graves.

As one barricade began to fall, another was hurriedly raised, everyone on their side getting pushed back. When there were hardly any digimon left to fight, everyone abandoned post, grabbed what they could, and retreated into the castle... but even the thick wooden doors weren't going to hold for long, as their tireless foe continued to ram and smash harpoon after harpoon at the doors. On the second day of being trapped inside the castle, the cracks were really beginning to show, and they felt on the dawn of the third and final day, it may have been the last any of them were to live... their followers were losing hope, and fearing the worst.

Sastrugamon had gone on the eve of the second day to hastily begin his freezing assault on the city, covering every inch he could reach under snow, as fast as he could, in readiness of their arrival. And on the third day, they seized the opportunity and ran with it- and now, here they were. Many of the troops were still in shock, starving and nervous from being in such an alien setting compared to home. And it was he and Medusamon's duty to see that their remaining followers were safe.

"This, right here!" Sastrugamon suddenly announced, tapping his beak against the map. He'd been reading the various 'hot spots' for tourists, since they tended to be big and important places, fit for huge numbers to visit, and he'd found the ideal spot for their group. "The largest shopping mall in the city. There should be plenty of things there for us to take for ourselves. Food, lodgings, equipment... if we're going anywhere, it would surely be wise to go here, no?"

The big bird seemed pleased with his find, but nearly jumped out of his feathery skin when he felt Medusamon rest her head against his wing, leaning right up against him. She seemed to relax more feeling his soft feathers against her smoother skin, considering that she'd been very stressed out previously.

"I knew you would find us a spot, my dearest Sastrugamon." she sighed, her voice soft and sweet. Her tone was normally sharp and icy towards the others, but around Sastrugamon, she was a much warmer creature. "You believe this 'mall' thing to be an oasis in this wretched city?"

Sastrugamon's snow-white face was now a very bright shade of pink, having his boss by his side like that. It was no secret with the rest of the forces that he was deeply inlove with Medusamon. He turned his head away shyly, before affirming his selection.

"Y-Yes, my lady Medusamon..." he began, coughing to clear his throat of his stammering, which always occurred without fail in her presence, "I know about some human things, and... their 'malls' are where they sell a great deal many useful things... clothes, food, equipment and other supplies... they are huge, as huge as our fortress perhaps, so our forces will have plenty of room... From there, we can figure our next course of action, how we will reach the islands out at sea for us to start over..."

"We should make a start on mapping out a good route, then..." Medusamon replied, looking over the map, tracing along a road with her finger tip. Sastrugamon glanced down at her, where he was much bigger, and nodded his head in agreement.

"F-First, my lady Medusamon... I think I should take a look around out there... the blizzard should've been strong enough to keep the humans out of the way, but there's the matter of... _that_ company."

He was of course referring to Arch Angel, and with nothing more to say, he set off. Medusamon, however, stayed behind, trying to plan the route to the mall. But knowing he was going to be spending time apart from her, keeping check of things from the sky, on his own, made her heart ache.

* * *

"Kai." came the voice of Denimon, who was speaking rather low, into Kai's ear. "Kai, it's snowing."

"Mmmh..." groaned the young man known as Kai. He shifted around more, so that his back was now facing Denimon, before he irritably mumbled a reply, trying to drift back to sleep before he was woken up any further,"Go away... do you have any idea what time it is...? I've got work in the morning..."

Kai briefly blinked at the digital clock on his wall just above his bed with bleary eyes and took in the time; 5 am precisely. Sighing in frustration, he slipped his eyes closed and hoped Denimon was done trying to pester him.

"I know that, Kai-cha." Denimon replied using an affectionate nickname of sorts in response, "but it's snowing really bad out, and Marina wants you to- Kai? Kai!"

The big blue dinosaur prodded the 20-something's shoulder, on not receiving any response at all, and aside from a soft grunt, Kai remained still. Several more proddings ended up causing Kai to pull the duvet up over his head, to dull the sharp jabs from Denimon's claws, and block out any more annoyance. He felt the best thing to do was to ignore the reptilian fiend and hopefully he would leave, however, this was not something that was going to happen, it seemed.

Denimon leaned forward, tugging the bedsheet down a bit, repeatedly calling out his name in his most annoying voice ever, since that usually worked. He wound up climbing up onto the bed, with it's heavy, stripy duvet and began to jump up and down on it.

"Kai! Kai! KaiKaiKaiKaiKaiKai _Kai_!" Denimon yapped, clapping his paws and stamping his feet, sending pillows bouncing around haphazardly across the mattress. Kai's eyes snapped open and before the irrepressible lizard even saw him coming, the disgruntled guy was on him, wrestling him about. After getting caught up in a headlock, Kai growled several expletives at him, and booted him off the bed.

"Disturb me again you little brat, and I'll kick your ass!" he growled, straightening up his bed before getting back in angrily and hiding his pale-haired head back under the covers.

Denimon rubbed his sore nose and neck, which ached from being wrestled, but he wasn't going to let this stop him. Creeping to the end of the bed, he lifted up the end of the duvet, exposing Kai's sensitive feet, which the sneaky dinosaur knew very well did not like being tickled. However, he was going to go beyond tickling and get both revenge, and a sure-fire way to wake the cafe-worker up for certain.

Licking his lizardy lips, Denimon leaned his head forward- and promptly began to lick the soles of Kai's feet.

"WAAAAARRRGGHHH!" Kai shrieked, jumping up like someone'd just dumped a scorpion on him, and fell right out of bed onto the floor, bumping the back of his head on the rug and taking half of his bedding with him. When his eyes adjusted to the dim lighting, and he woke up properly, he was met with Denimon's crocodile-like face grinning down at him like a cheshire cat.

"Got you, Kai-cha." the dinosaur smirked, before beginning to tug on his tamer's brother's arm. "You gotta come downstairs, we're like, snowed in, and there's no heating!"

"Why the hell didn't you tell me this before?" Kai growled sorely, rubbing the back of his head. He seemed to suddenly register that it was pretty damn cold in here, now he was fully awake, and more aware of his surroundings.

"Because you're an ignorant pig-headed poop and kept ignoring me." Denimon replied, smirking once more. Kai sighed, refusing to take the bait for another argument, which usually occurred on a daily basis whenever the two were home at the same time. Kai did not like Denimon, and Denimon did not like Kai, and the two were always insulting one another, and using any excuse to have a fight... even if it drove Marina up the wall with stress.

* * *

A little while later, Kai came downstairs, accompanied by Denimon. There'd been a second short-lived fight between the pair, of Denimon not understanding Kai's need for privacy on getting dressed, which had resulted in the 'free-loading snot-nosed brat' of a dinosaur getting wrestled and shut out of the easily-annoyed young man's bedroom so he could get dressed in peace.

Marina was sitting with Darren, who had stayed over for the night, at their home terminal, both looking worried. Marina had been extremely late getting home due to a meeting with her manager, and Darren, who had kindly escorted her home, had wound up staying over since the weather had taken a turn for the worst, and Darren lived virtually on the other side of town. Both had been stressed out, where the manager was still not going to let them forget about their running out on Marina's VIP guests on the night of the concert, and had been with a hair-trigger temper since then.

Kai felt frustrated. He wanted to be the one she turned to, like in the past... but now, if things were bothering her, she either confided in Darren, or... the _creature_. He glared down at Denimon bitterly from the corner of his eyes, and growled slightly under his breath. Ever since the incident, back when he and Marina had been kids, Denimon had been with them ever since, and their lives had never been the same since.

"So, someone mind telling me what the hell's going on with the crazy weather?" he asked, breaking the tense silence that had been gripping the room. He was wearing one of the spare bathrobes in a bid to keep himself from feeling the freezing air that had hit him rather hard on waking up properly.

"The blizzard that came out of nowhere last night has practically buried everyone and everything inside. We can't open the front door because there's a wall of snow burying us in..." Darren called over, from where he was checking several things on the terminal. There must have been at least ten windows open displaying various news readings and reports.

"The power isn't exactly back, everything is pretty much dead. It took us ages setting up dad's spare power supply just to power the terminal..." Marina sighed, before shooting Kai a side-long glare, "if _someone_ had bothered to come down sooner, say, _someone_ who _knew_ how to set up the power supply, we could've got up and running sooner..."

Kai seemed slightly taken aback by her frustrated tone, his already annoyed mood dipping down into frustration. Denimon seemed to instinctively back off from his side, to avoid becoming the target of a further clobbering.

"Hey, I didn't know, okay? I only just found out about this crap just now!" he growled back, in an increasingly annoyed tone. However, on seeing Marina's expression change to one suggesting guilt for having had a go at him, he hastily made the effort to calm down. He didn't want to explode at his sister, now was not a good time for arguments. "...What are you guys doing on there, anyway? What's so important you used the power supply for the terminal, instead of like, the kitchen, or the something?"

Both of the tamers paused from checking the news, and looked at each-other awkwardly. Due to Kai's deep-seated loathing of Digimon, and what they were about to tell him, they instinctively felt, would not go down well.

"We... needed to get in contact with some of our friends..." Darren mumbled, finding it difficult to keep eye contact with the other male.

"U-Uhh... the ones we met recently, at the cafe near the concert hall..." Marina muttered, stammering slightly in nerves. She had been only half-facing Kai, where she'd been following the information on the screen, and trying to bury her nervousness over this inevitable confrontation, "A-Amy and Joey, t-the ones with..." she could feel her voice growing softer and more strained, "t-the ones with th-the _Digimon_... b-because, we discussed this, a-and only a D-Digimon could cause something this b-bad... a-and we were going to t-try to find a way to stop it..."

The following outburst from her short-tempered older brother almost made it seem as though his anger would cause the very house to come down around them from the impossibly aggressive snarl that escaped his lips.

"WHAT?" He shrieked, and in no time at all, had crossed the room, an taken a hold of Marina's shoulders, turning his younger sister around to face him. She froze, all the colour seeming to drain from her already pale face on seeing the absolute intense fiery rage building up in his eyes, as his face steadily flushed so red with anger she thought he'd turn purple.

"What the HELL did I tell you about this, Marina?" He yelled, shaking her roughly, "Do you seriously not care about your safety? I told you to stop getting involved with these creatures, and anyone that has anything to do with them! If there's really more people out there, then let THEM deal with this crap! I won't have you doing this, putting your life on the line for such stupid and reckless reasons!"

Marina was trembling, shaking all over both from his grip on her shoulders, and her growing guilt and upset on being grilled mercilessly like this by her sibling. Her vision had grown so blurry from tears she could barely make his face out any more, where everything had gone misty.

Darren had been trying to hold back, but on seeing and hearing all this, and Marina's growing visibly more and more upset by this, could stay out of things no longer. Standing, he pushed Kai back, and stood between the pair defensively.

"Kai, please, calm down." Darren instructed the other, still anger-consumed male, whilst placing a hand reassuringly on Marina's shoulder, "That's enough."

"Don't butt in, Darren!" Kai snarled back angrily, balling up his fists. Marina caught sight of this, and his increasing aggression, and clung to Darren's arm fearfully; she had visions of her brother trying to smash Darren's jaw in. It would be the first time her elder sibling had beaten someone up over her, either. "You're a bad influence on her, what the hell kinda bodyguard are you, anyway? Actively going out with her on these stupid 'monster hunts'? You should be encouraging her away from that dangerous stuff!"

"Now, you listen here-" Darren started, stepping forward. Kai seemed to be implying that he did not care for Marina, or take his duties, both as her bodyguard, and her friend, or her safety, seriously.

"Please stop this!" Marina yelled, this time being the one to place herself between the pair, "Stop it right NOW!"

She stared tearfully from one to the other. Both were breathing rather deeply, Kai's coming out more shuddery from his already very angered state. The pair of them continued to stare each-other down angrily, glaring intensely, with Marina still trying to shield one from the other.

"Kai... please, this is so serious... I don't do these things because I _have_ to, but because I _want_ to..." she murmured insistently, trying to keep her voice soft and calm, "People could be hurt, or die, if we ignored wild digimon appearances, or just assume that just because there are 'other tamers' that they will step in... you know that's not the case, or else we wouldn't even need to do it in the first place..."

Kai backed off, still glaring, and still red-faced from frustration. He leaned off against the wall, his arms folded defensively across his chest, avoiding their gazes. Denimon and Elfinmon ducked back behind the sofa, which the pair had retreated behind the moment things had kicked off, for fearing of making things escalate even worser than they had, considering most times, just the sight of them goofing off or being too close by set him off.

Marina carefully approached her older brother and stood before him, peering up at his face. She wiped the tears from her eyes, and took hold of his hands in hers, clasping them tight, her thumbs affectionately stroking across his fingers soothingly.

"This time, especially of all times, we can't sit out... we can't assume things will 'just get better'... a digimon has caused this blizzard, and everyone is at risk, all the time it's out there..."

Kai seemed to be letting this all sink in, and the anger in his expressing slowly dissipating away, and being steadily replaced by growing fear and worry.

"Because what if it doesn't go away...? Then what? This blizzard will worsen, and people will begin freezing to death, trapped in their homes... this can't go on, Kai... we have the means to stop it, so we choose to, for everyone and everything we hold dear..." Marina finished, moving in to hug her brother.

Darren crossed his own arms, watching carefully, if just to be sure Kai wasn't going to fly off the handle. Instead, Kai seemed to hesitantly wrap his arms around Marina, and cling onto her tightly.

"G-God dammit, Marina..." Kai murmured, resting his chin on the top of her head, "I just... why does it have to be _you_? I don't... I don't want anything to happen to you..."

He kissed her forehead, and the two held on together a little longer, overcome with their emotions. Darren approached, and patted Kai's shoulder reassuringly.

"Kai..." Denimon suddenly spoke up, approaching from he and Elfinmon's spot from behind the sofa. Kai stared down at him in silence, as the big blue dinosaur stood before them.

"Kai-cha, I've been with you two since you were both real young... and I've always protected Marina, and you." He started, bowing his head humbly, "I love Marina, very much, and I always will. As long as I can be by her side, I won't ever stop loving, or protecting her. She's my family, just as much as she is yours, you know! So... please have a little more faith in all of us?"

Kai said nothing, for a brief time. Marina eventually pulled back, standing beside Denimon. She placed her hand on Denimon's head and patted him affectionately. She trusted in Denimon completely, and always had done, since their very first meeting together... but that same meeting had left Kai completely distrustful, and with a hatred of digimon that had lasted all these years, up to now. It was evident he could never like digimon, but she needed him to trust in at least Denimon... he was her partner, after all, and very important to her.

"What... what do you plan to do, then?" Her brother asked, straightening back up, "I can't... stop you from going, but like you said, if you guys don't do anything, then..." he dreaded to think of the outcome if nobody bothered to intervene.

"We're going to meet Amy and Joey, and try to take down the Digimon causing the blizzard..." Darren spoke up. Elfinmon had bounded over to his side, and clambered up him like a cat to cling to his shoulders. "That's the only way this will stop. We discussed this, and it seems like there's no other option."

Neither Marina nor Darren had been told about the Resistance. Amy and Joey did not want to give them any false hope, in-case the Resistance ended up unable to stop this mess themselves, let alone turn up to fight for the city, and since they had no way of contacting them, wouldn't be able to confirm anything.

"Fine, then." Kai sighed huffily, glancing aside, "I'll let you go, but on one condition..."

"What's that?" Marina inquired, gazing up at him curiously,

"You take me with you."

* * *

It was now around 8am, and everyone was just now leaving. Around half seven, Joey and Amy had managed to make contact with them, and everyone had made the plan of the others coming over to help get Joey and Amy out of the apartment block, and everyone head off from there to take down the threat.

Everyone was currently exiting the house in a rather unique way, wearing the warmest winter-wear they could find.

"It's not too late to change your mind, Kai..." Marina murmured, as Darren helped her down the last steps of the ladder.

The front door and downstairs windows are covered by hardened snow, and too much time would have been wasted trying to dig their way out. Instead, Kai went down to the basement and retrieved a ladder, hauling up onto the top floor, and setting it down out of the landing window, which opened up furthest and had the most space to let everyone through.

"No, don't even try to talk me out of this. Besides, if the heating is out, I'll freeze inside, anyway. At least this way, if I come too, we've got more supplies because of having an extra pair of hands, right?" Kai replied, lowering down the second of three sports bags down. They'd geared up like they'd been prepping for an actual mission in the Arctic, rather than a travel through town. They'd be forgiven for this, though, considering the entire city right now might as well have been the Arctic, for the harsh, frozen, barren streets, devoid of any life at all, and freezing cold.

"You don't even have a digimon to protect you..." Marina argued back, now taking her turn to help Kai down the last few steps. He had the last bag slung across his back, and something else currently tucked under his arm.

"I don't need a digimon to protect me, I can protect myself, see?" her big brother grinned, pulling the baseball bat from out of his arm. He didn't play it much, any-more, but it had been autographed by one of his favourite players, and it was a metal alloy bat, very strong, and very durable, and he felt it would suffice as a weapon. "I have this nice sturdy bat!"

"Ehehehehe..." Elfinmon giggled from behind Daren, "Kai-cha will really fight off digimon with that bat?"

The little green fox-like digimon and his dinosaur companion both burst into a fit of giggles, trying to imagine Kai fending off champion level digimon with a mere metal baseball bat, like some proud hero.

"Kai-cha sucks at baseball, he's too shy to even reach 'second base' with his cute manager at work!" Denimon commented, making light of poor Kai's working relationship with his manager at the café, which made the young waiter's face flush red in anger and shame, and had him bonk Denimon on the head with the tip of the bat. "Owwie!"

"That's what you guys will get if you piss me off !" Kai snapped, pointing the bat from Denimon to Elfinmon, to get the point across more. Both digimon squeaked and hid behind Darren, who sighed, but managed a little smile.

"Aww, that's no fair, though, besides, you're already pissed off!" Elfinmon dared to reply, peering out from behind Darren's leg. He squealed like a piglet on getting a bop in response to this, and then almost knocked Darren over trying to hide underneath Denimon.

"Shuddup!", came the final growl from Kai's mouth. He glared sorely off to the side, folding his arms. Marina was checking through the supplies one last time before everyone would set off into the frozen wastes of the formerly bustling metropolis of Neo Tokyo... or at least, what was still visible of most of it.

"Right, we've got dad's spare first aid kit, a roll of bandages, dad's spare torch and compass, some blankets, food, flasks of water, our D-Drives, Kai's PDA, dad's swiss army knife...", the idol singer muttered, mostly to herself, before zipping the last bag back up and straightening up, "We should have enough food and water to last us a few days, weather permitting, that is..."

"How long do you think we'll be out here for? Or how long do you think it'll be to take down the digimon responsible for this crap?" Kai enquired, sounding concerned.

"We can't say. Nothing that's happened before has happened on this scale..." Darren spoke up, where he'd been keeping check on the digimon pair, who were currently playing patty-cake off to one side, "I'm guessing that whatever caused this is strong, or didn't come in alone."

Kai and Marina both looked up. They hadn't taken into consideration that there could be more than one digimon causing this, and given the wide area of effect, it seemed a bit over-blown and thorough for one single digimon to need this much city covered in snow... not that any of them had even the faintest inkling of reasoning behind this attack on civilization, but piecing theories together, it truly didn't make sense for one digimon to be doing this much just for itself.

"Great, so you're telling me there could be, hell, I don't know... gangs of them about?" Kai replied, rubbing the back of his head. Darren lifted up one of the bags, the one with food, up and hung the strap over his shoulder, so as to stop the digimon from keep pestering him for snacks or enquiring when it was time to eat.

"More or less," Darren replied bluntly. He passed the bag with the folded up double bed sized blanket to Marina. It had been a miracle they'd found a bag big enough to fold over and squash the blanket inside, but in-case they needed to crash out somewhere, they needed to have some way of keeping warm besides trying to light a fire.

"Are you really sure you want to go through with this, Kai?" Marina asked her older sibling, looking over her shoulder, as she and Darren were starting to head out, "I won't hold it against you if you back out, you know. This... isn't a game... I know that. But I just worry, where you don't have a partner digimon..."

Kai stooped and picked up the last bag, slinging it over his back. He was determined to stick by them, and help protect his sister in any way, and if there was going to be more than one digimon on the loose, he wasn't going to sit in an empty, cold home, wondering if they were alright, or what was happening.

"Well, you can stop worrying, because regardless, I'm coming along." the elder of the pair called, jogging through the snow to catch up with them. "And there isn't any digimon out there that'll make me change my mind!"

Denimon and Elfinmon both sniggered behind him, before Kai shot them a fiery glare over his shoulder, causing them both to squeak and promptly zip it. Marina giggled up ahead. Despite the anxiety growing inside her, she felt somehow more at ease with her brother's confidence in them all, rather than before, where he seemed consumed with worry and doubt.

But they needed to get this done; to meet with Amy and Joey, and then track down the culprit of the weather phenomenon and put an end to it.

* * *

It was mid-day, now. It had begun to snow again, but not as heavily as it had been before. The small trio of humans and two digimon were checking the D-Drive's city map as best they could make out, for what felt like the umpteenth time today.

"I'd say another two or three hours walking and we should be right outside Amy's apartment." Darren commented, shifting slightly where he'd been lugging a heavy bag over the same shoulder since they'd left.

"Ugh!" Kai cried in dismay, "Why'd you have to have friends that live on the other side of the known universe _right_ when we need them most, huh?"

Marina rolled her eyes at her brother's sarcastic remark and tutted her tongue at him, something he hated. She closed the map on her own D-Drive and picked her bag back up, pointing off towards the south east, using the compass for direction.

"If we keep going this way, we should virtually bump right into the building," she explained, leaning against Kai's shoulder, and looking up at him with a small smirk, "Sure you can handle the trip until then?"

Kai glared sorely down at his sister, but did not come back at her with a snappy retort, instead choosing not to take the bait. Just as everyone began to start off again, the two digimon, who had been doing nothing but goofing off and messing around in the snow, decided to take their antics to a whole new level.

Kai was the butt of the joke once more, as he felt himself get smacked in the back of the head by a rather solidly-made snowball, which got all over most of his hair and down the back of the neck of his jacket.

" _DENIMON_!" He yelled, turning on his heel and pointing angrily at the blue dinosaur, "I KNOW that was you, just then! You're the only one with paws that can grip and mould stuff!"

Denimon rubbed his chin, cocking his head to the side, looking a picture of innocence. But the disgruntled cafe-worker knew different. The devious little dinosaur was beginning to push all the wrong buttons right now, and took glee in every instance where he 'rustled Kai's jimmies'.

"What~? Did something happen, Kai-cha?" Denimon asked, in a sweet little voice, batting his eyes at Kai, claws clasped together against his reptilian chest, "My, my, you're so cute when you're angry!"

"You won't find me cute when my foot is embedded right up your stupid little a-" Kai growled, before being cut off, as a snowball flung from Elfinmon caught him square in the jaw, giving him a mouth full of icy cold snow.

"You were saying about me not being able to throw snowballs?" the naughty little green swamp-fox called, before he and Denimon started dancing around like little savages, high-fiving each-other victoriously. However, both the digimon's laughter turned to squeals of fright when their angry snow-covered victim began dashing towards them, brandishing his baseball bat.

"Kyaaah! Maririn! Help! Kai-cha has turned into a digimon-batting psychopath!" Denimon yelped, stumbling through the snow in a squeaky-panic, "I'm too cute and blue to die!"

"I have so much to live for, me and Deni-den-den haven't eaten the gut-buster mega-sandwich from Burger Palace yet!" Elfinmon added, constantly bashing into Denimon by accident from the side.

Kai managed to jump both Denimon _and_ Elfinmon at the same time, and all three began play-wrestling in the snow, kicking up clouds of white all around them. Darren and Marina were forced to stop, with Marina already rapidly getting impatient with the trio's lack of tolerance towards one another, before anger finally got the better of her, and she yelled at them, tying to keep them in line.

"For goodness sake! I've seen CHILDREN behave better than you three! God help you, if I have to come over there, and- mmmph?" it was apparantly Marina's turn to receive a snowball to the jaw.

"Aww, put a sock in it, sis. We're just messing around," Kai grinned, from where he was laying on his back with Denimon straddling his chest with Elfinmon running his paws through his hair. Both digimon began giggling again and complimented Kai on hitting the bullseye.

Darren turned, grinning, to focus instead on the street signs. Someone had to pay attention, after all. Just as he concluded that it would be wise to take a turning down this street to make for a short cut, he heard another yell from the trio, and turned, just in time, to catch Marina carrying what amounted to a boulder of snow above her head and crossly dumping it down on-top of the mischievous three who had used up all her patience.

As everyone dusted themselves down from the brief snowball fight, Darren spotted something that made him shiver, more than the chill air around them. Gesturing at the others, who hurried over he pointed ahead, at something large and unmistakeable in the middle of the road ahead, a series of gigantic footprints.

"Well now, what do you make of that, then?" Darren asked, as everyone nervously and curiously approached the large, flat footprint. It was round and disk-like, almost, with three large claw marks up front, with the snow between each print rough, powdery and entrenched, as if something very big and hairy had dragged itself through.

"I have no idea at all..." Marina replied, walking around the tracks, studying them as they passed. She could sense Kai becoming increasingly nervous, he'd never seen paw prints of this size before, and it was making him understandably very tense. She hung back, until he nearly bumped into her, seemingly lost in thought. "Are you alright...?"

"Honestly? No... No, I'm not alright..." Kai mumbled to her, keeping close. He'd drawn his bat again, but now, metal alloy or not, he realized how feeble it would be to try to fight something off as big as the impression these prints gave. "Have you... Have you guys fought anything as big as this before?"

"Yes, we have..." Marina replied. She thought back to the previous fights she and Darren had been in, with their partners fighting stuff that was bigger than most people could ever imagine, the ShogunGekomon coming to mind. She remembered the help they'd received that night, and added, "But our digimon, the ones on our side, and those of our friends... they're capable of getting just as big, too. You remember Denimon's digivolution, at least?"

Kai nodded, but did not vocally voice a reply. He remembered Marinemon, alright. A few times growing up, they'd called on his abilities, when digimon had wound-up in their neck of the woods, so to speak. But this was before he'd found out his sister had been sneaking off by herself with Denimon and purposefully tracking down wild digimon... something she had been doing since the age of twelve, and hadn't stopped since.

"We'll be fine, I promise. We'll get Amy and Joey, and we'll be sorted, okay?" Marina and Darren had yet to be informed that Laelapmon had unlocked her ability to digivolve, so was not filled with the greatest confidence. Dvergamon would be alright, surely, but poor Laelapmon... she remembered Amy and Laelapmon's grief during the fight with ShogunGekomon. Amy hadn't said much, but she knew it was uncomfortable for the pair.

Up ahead, the digimon were doing an investigation of their own.

"Deni-den-den," Elfinmon mewled, padding about Denimon in circles, whilst Denimon stooped low and sniffed each print, "What do you think it is? Is it a Tyrannomon? Is it? Hmmm... could it be Monzaemon?"

"Don't be silly, Elfin-buddy-boo!" Denimon chuckled, without looking up, "It's not the right shape, or size, for them. It smells... like fish. Water... fishy-water."

Elfinmon blinked at Denimon a few times, then lowered his head and took a deep, obnoxiously noisy sniff against the embedded print, before pulling back, holding his nose in disgust. Denimon looked up, to see what his thoughts were on the scent-trail.

"Well, I smell something, alright!" Elfinmon commented, wrinkling his little button nose, "I smell the smelly smell of something that smells smelly!"

After a period of following tracks, a second trail showed up, which caused everyone alarm. It was snowing again, gradually getting steadily stronger, and now, everything seemed to be getting swallowed up in a thick fog which was spreading over the ground.

"Just as we thought, there's more than one digimon out here!" Marina announced, pointing at the second trail, "these seem fresher, and deeper, where they haven't set in properly yet, unlike the other ones."

These new, second pair of prints were a lot more obvious to figure out. They were, without a shadow of a doubt, the undeniable shape of a bird's talons, but on a grander scale, and not as big as the first set of prints. They went from one corner, up along side the first prints, then vanishing around a second corner.

"Something seems real off about this..." Darren murmured, everyone huddling together nervously, at the new discovery. "We get closer to this area, the snow starts up, a fog rolls in, and now, fresh prints..."

"Maybe we're getting close by to the digimon causing the weather..." Marina murmured, staring about. Everything seemed ghostly, almost like they were on the verge of stepping into another world entirely, "It's like something out of a horror story, you know? People going missing in the fog..."

"S-Shut up..." Kai muttered, shivering more. He pulled his fleece-lined jacket around himself more, and shifted his bag over to the other shoulder, standing in more closer to the others. "This is creepy enough as is, without you adding to it, sis..."

The band of explorers followed the second set of tracks, and noticed that the first set just faded off into nothing, completely lost in the brewing snowstorm. It was getting difficult to make anything out, now, and they were having to pick up their feet more to make any form of progress in the increasingly bad weather.

They were now standing at what was formerly a traffic island in the middle of a roundabout, one solitary street lamp in the centre being the only consistently strong light. The shadows of buildings looming high through the foggy streets stood like colossal phantoms, and aside from the faint glow from other street lamps, it seemed grey and gloomy.

A bright flash through the sky, the only colours in this dull, white and grey landscape, caught the attention of everyone present. A glowing trail, almost like an aurora Borealis, shining beautifully in the misty skies.

Marina gasped, awe-struck, her voice caught in her throat. Looking at it, something so colourful and magnificent, painting the sky in a dazzling wave of shifting colours, made her feel emotional, and reaching for Darren's hand, gave it a squeeze.

Darren, who had been staring along with her, was briefly distracted by her sudden hold on his hand, and felt his cheeks pinkening, the sudden rush of warmth to his face in the icy air making the skin of his face tingle.

"An aurora..." Kai breathed, from Marina's other side, "Now I know we can't be on earth any-more... we don't get auroras here..."

"I wouldn't be too sure of that, Kai-cha..." Denimon murmured darkly.

Everyone managed to tear their gaze off of the aurora to stare down at the two digimon, who were responding very strangely to the sky phenomenon.

Denimon and Elfinmon's pupils had become almost catlike, Denimon's head raised as if getting ready to strike, and Elfinmon's fur bristled up, as he let out a soft hiss. Both were completely on edge, and staring straight off down the road ahead. Their senses were stronger than the human trio's, and so they'd picked up on something much faster than they had.

"W-What is it, Elfinmon?" Darren asked, kneeling, beside his digimon, whose back was now arched like a cat's, his tail held high with every hair standing on end.

"Down that street... it's arrived..." Elfinmon hissed cryptically, and before anyone could stop them, he and Denimon were dashing through the snow, down the specified street.

Panicking, everyone began stumbling after them, staggering through the build up of snow, until they saw multicolour light shining through the fog, drawing them forward, guiding them ahead towards their fated encounter.

Everyone came halting to a stop in the middle of a deserted street. The tops of cars and vans stood out of the snow, as more flakes flurried down overhead. On a low building before them, perched on the roof, looking over the crossroads before them, stood a giant, white and blue bird, with a flowing crest of white hair, flowing out behind him. He flapped his wings slightly, snow seeming to flow and circle around him; the snowfall was without a doubt thickest around him.

His glowing gold eyes were matched in brightness only by the rainbow-coloured aura surrounding his immaculate form, and he looked majestic, intimidatingly so. The humans seemed to forget at first that he was responsible for the mess the city was in, where his ethereal appearance had them momentarily captivated.

A snarl from Denimon broke the silence that had fallen over the street, where both sides had been staring each-other down, sizing the other up, and the giant white bird regarded the trio of humans and their digimon coolly, with his burning, golden eyes.

"Guys, quickly, digivolve!" Marina urged, the moment Sastrugamon spread his wings out wide.

Two towering collumns of light burst upwards from the two rookies, shooting straight up towards the sky, briefly dispelling the clouds overhead, in towers of light that could be seen from afar, even with the fog cover.

"Denimon, digivolve to...!"

"Elfinmon, digivolve to...!"

The deafening roar of energy echoing down the empty streets managed to drown out even the growing wind, as data wrapped around both digimon that were rapidly changing size. Denimon's anatomy quickly shifted from his normal dinosaur anatomy to Marinemon's more upright, humanoid anatomy.

Elfinmon grew out his long, fin-like ears and wings, becoming much bigger, but still sleek and graceful. When the light collumns subsided, after bursting apart in a dazzling flash, the two newly formed champions stood where the rookies had previously been, still wrapped in a slowly fading aura of coloured light, as the pair announced their new forms.

"Marinemon!"

"Elvermon!"

Sastrugamon had already taken to the sky, and was circling overhead. Elvermon opened his mouth and shot out his long tongue, straight up at the great snow bird.

"Mire Whip!"

Sastrugamon felt the sticky appendage wrap around his leg, firm and tight, and began pulling down forcibly hard. Struggling to maintain flight, he began to lose altitude, and tugged as hard as he could; it was now becoming a tug of war match between the pair.

Marinemon rushed, grabbing onto Elvermon's tongue also, attempting to help pull down their opponent.

Sastrugamon let out an aggressive shriek, before suddenly using his talons to grip onto Elvermon's tongue, and then flew up high, all the muscles in his body straining to pull up the pair from off the ground, and miraculously enough for him, succeeded. He flipped around, performing a loop-de-loop, swinging the pair around with him, causing them both to cry out.

As the loop finished its turn, Sastrugamon released them, sending them hurtling down towards the snow-covered ground so hard that both digimon left sizeable craters in the frozen ground from the impact.

"Marinemon!" Marina yelled, dashing over to the craters in desperation, with Darren right behind her.

"Elvermon! Are you alright?" Darren yelled down, into the pit. Both the tamers, along with Kai, who had been rooted to the spot in shock watching the battle unfold, finally catching up to them.

Marinemon and Elvermon groaned, painfully pulling themselves up, with Marinemon using his polearm to steady himself. Overhead, Sastrugamon was still on the move, and still silent and focused; no cocky quips or insulting remarks, like their previous foes.

"Urgh... it's difficult to reach him, when he's up so high..." Elvermon groaned, rubbing his nose from the fall. He shook snow off of himself, and in turn, accidentally sprinkled the others present in clumps of snow.

"I can't even reach him at all..." Marinemon muttered, feeling useless. He had no projectile or long-distance attacks, and since he had no means to achieve aerial combat, was effectively confined to just melee on the ground.

"Elvermon, why don't you try shooting him down with Elver Bullets?" Darren suggested, as Sastrugamon finished positioning himself, "A-And do it quick, he's going to attack again!"

The jewel on Elvermon's forehead began to glow, before he spewed out foul-smelling globs of swamp mud, straight up into the air. Sastrugamon dodged swiftly, but the last round caught him in the right wing, gumming the feathers up. The great white bird began to plummet down towards the ground, letting out an aggravated cry.

During his descent, Marinemon seized the opportunity to strike a blow. Sprinting out of the crater, he used his Guan Dao to polevault up high into the air, meeting Sastrugamon on the way down, raising the blade-ended staff over his head.

"Breaker Blade!" the blue dragon-warrior yelled, before bringing it down, slashing into Sastrugamon's chest. With a howl of agony, the crested bird digimon was sent flying, smashing into the ground, and going skidding back several feet, snow being sent up in cloud trails after him.

The human trio held their breath, Marinemon landing down on his feet, weapon at the ready, just infront of them. Elvermon stood at his side, the pair forming a guard to protect their partners, all eyes fixed on the great bird's fallen form.

After a moment's silence, Sastrugamon began to stir. Shaking, he got to his feet, clumps of snow and slush dripping down his body and wings. His gold eyes burned with rage, glaring down the street at them; and just as his foes began to rush towards him, he held his head high, and opened his beak, as the strange rainbow-coloured aura grew and danced around his damaged form.

"AURORA BLAZE!"

This was the first for the entire battle the blizzard-digimon had spoken, and a beam of multicoloured light burst from his open mouth, blazing towards the group. Snow went flying up, the powerful energy blast leaving a deep indent in the ground as it passed, causing the windows of the vehicles parked in the street to shatter, and those directly in it's path to become crushed effortlessly.

Marina was frozen in shock, and to her, it felt like time had stopped. Darren had already gotten out of the way, and realized too late that she hadn't followed him. He screamed at her to get out of the way, but it didn't register in her mind.

She finally seemed to come to her senses when she felt a pair of strong arms wrap around her tightly, her brother flinging himself bodily into her, trying to throw them both out of the way, the two digimon huddling close, trying to form a tight shield against the on-coming beam.

The light grew so bright that the digimon in-front became silhouetted, before seemingly swallowed up whole, and for the siblings, the entire world was lost in a sea of white.

* * *

_Marina slowly opened her eyes. It was dark, and silent, aside from the feeling of water rushing around her ears. Bubbles rose up around her, an somewhere above her, light was filtering down, fractured through the roughened surface of the water._

_A shadow passed overhead. Was it a boat, or something else? She didn't know, and right now, she didn't care._

_The water was frothing up behind her, muffled sounding, but fierce. The dark blue atmosphere that surrounded her began to grow cloudy and red with blood. Her half-lidded eyes snapped open, as she felt a growing sense of fear and panic setting in, reality hitting her hard, like she was being slammed into a brick wall._

_She couldn't breathe._

_Staring fearfully up, she began clawing at the surface, flailing desperately with one hand, the other clutching at her throat. It hurt, everything hurt, her head, her throat, and her chest. The light above began to grow faint, and the frothing, hissing water behind her sounding far away._

_This was it. She was going to die._

* * *

Darren was on his knees, furiously clawing at the mountain of snow that had buried his friends. His forehead was bloody, and part of his jacket sleeve had been torn, shards of glass from the window of a car he'd dived behind sticking out slightly; but he was so cold and numb, and consumed with worry, to care about that right now.

Elvermon was at his side, barely conscious, and unable to lift his head much. He watched Darren desperately trying to find the others, in total silence.

Finally, something blue poked through the snow; it was part of Marinemon's back. Darren sped up, unearthing more and more of the buried digimon, and with this, spotting Kai and Marina's jackets throwing the snow and debris.

Marinemon's arms were wrapped around the pair tightly, and in turn, Kai's arms wrapped around Marina, with her head buried into his chest. Marinemon was breathing roughly, likely from shock and relief at being alive. Kai was in the same state.

"Oh my god..." Darren gasped, unable to keep the shaking out of his voice, repeating himself several times from shock, himself, "Oh my god... oh my _god_... Kai, Marinemon..."

Marinemon groaned in a low voice, shifting painfully. He and Elvermon both felt like they'd been hit by trucks. Marinemon's arms were so stiff and sore, he seemed as though he'd be perpetually locked with his arms closed around the pair he had shielded forever, but with a strain, managed to painfully prize himself off of them.

"She's u-unconcious..." Kai stammered, barely able to focus, himself. Marina wasn't responding, and seemed as though she'd passed out, knocked out from the blast. "Please, we need to get some place safe..."

"There's some stores down from here... we should take shelter in there..." Darren suggested. He felt terrible for having not been the one to protect Marina, considering his duty towards her as her bodyguard, and her friend.

He carried her in his arms, where Kai was too weakened from the numbing cold from being buried under a heap of snow, and the digimon were barely keeping up. Nobody had said a word the entire route up the road.

Sastrugamon himself was long gone; after his attack, he had stopped to catch his breath, still hurt from his crash, but after picking the sticky mud off of his feathers and straightening himself up, he'd taken flight, and was likely clear out of the area. He'd seemed desperate to leave, for some reason, even though he'd won- hell, the entire blast had seemed one big desperation attack from him, and he hadn't hung about to check if he'd finished them off.

Maybe he was sure they had perished, or maybe he hadn't cared, but either way, he'd paid Darren no attention when the young man's shock had set in, and he'd gotten a grip on himself and rushed out to free the others from the snow-covered prison.

On reaching the store, Marinemon smashed open one of the half-covered windows, crawling on through. Darren lowered Marina's unconcious body down to him, and Marinemon held her in his arms firmly, his helmet hiding his watery eyes; he felt he had failed her, despite putting his life on the line with Elfinmon for her and Kai's safety.

Kai entered next, followed by Darren. Elvermon was too big to fit through, and the digivolution power, despite his injuries, did not seem to fade, likely because both digimon were too worried about their partners to dare to give in to losing their energy now.

The boys set about looting some supplies in the store, managing to find a health and medical care aisle. Marinemon was sitting over in the corner, having taken some spare blankets from a bedding section and had Marina resting on them. He refused to budge from her side, keeping watch.

Kai's expression was unreadable, he seemed upset, angry... and yet blank, like his thoughts were so disorganized and unfocused. He was staring off into space, and wandering about slowly, lost in thought, muttering whenever he picked up the wrong items for their re-stocking.

He finally broke the silence, after Darren sat down, and the other had begun to carefully remove the glass shards from his arm. Darren was clearly going to need to go to a hospital for this wound, and receive stitches, but with the city at an absolute stand-still, this was not going to happen any time soon.

"I hate digimon..." Kai muttered, to nobody in particular.

Darren looked up at Kai, still unable to read his expression. His head was bowed, and his hair covered his eyes from view.

"I said I HATE Digimon, okay?" Kai suddenly snapped, raising his voice. He moved away, after removing the last glass shard, removing it less than carefully, and making Darren gasp in pain. He moved over to the counter, and began opening a box of rolled up bandages, and opening a cap on a bottle of water, his body tense from frustration.

Darren remained silent as Kai brought the stuff back over, cleaning Darren's wound carefully with the water. It poured down onto the floor, leaving watery-red puddles.

"All they do is cause destruction, and hurt people..." Kai murmured, his voice quietening some. His eyes looked misty, and dark, shadowed over from his hair and the lightless room.

"They're not all like that... Marinemon and Elvermon tried... they took the force of that hit, for you and her..." Darren replied, softly.

"Well, it wasn't good enough, was it?" Kai snapped back, beginning to tie on the bandages, "This... this happened before... ever since that damn day, back when we were kids... things have never been the same."

Darren sat in silence, Kai pausing briefly, the sounds of his roughened breathing being the only sound, until he continued.

"I haven't had a peaceful sleep, or lived a normal life, or gone through a single instance since they entered our damn lives, because I'm _fucking scared_ , you know? The fact my little sister is running around out there, doin' dangerous crap like this... One day, she might not come home... And that... it _terrifies_ me, Darren..."

Finishing on the bandages, Kai pulled back, rubbing his arms. He sat down on the floor by the counter, and opened a second bottled water to drink, rubbing cold sweat from his forehead.

"Marinemon and Elvermon don't mean any harm, Kai... they really do have people's best interests at heart, and want to keep them safe, none more so than Marinemon for Marina..." Darren said, glancing over at the singer, still laying still, with Marinemon ever keeping watch. "It's not Marinemon's fault this has happened..."

"He's the reason she even gets into these situations, anyway!" Kai retorted, glaring across the way at Darren, coldly. "It's because of crap like this they even met, and it's because she 'bonded' with him, or whatever, back then, that means this stuff always, _always_ happens..."

"And just what was it, that happened 'back then', that caused so much pain for you...?" Darren replied.

Kai suddenly stopped, a look of intense guilt spreading over his face. Darren's expression softened, as he went over.

"You're carrying a lot on your shoulders, Kai... a lot of pain..." he murmured down quietly, "I won't hold it against you, if you don't want to talk about it, but... we can't continue on through this, until you get your head cleared..."

Kai glanced aside sadly, leaning his arm on one knee, swirling the water around distractedly in it's bottle, contemplating what to do... should he tell Darren what happened, or not?

"I... I guess the first time was my fault..." he muttered, after a long pause between them both, "we were young, and being stupid, and... too hopeful..."

Taking a deep breath, Kai began to recount what happened, on the day things changed for them forever.

* * *

"Stop crying, already! Geez, you're annoying... if you keep cryin', I'll turn around and take us right back, and you won't see Dad, alright?"

Kai sighed, and continued to row. The beach was still in sight, and people could still be seen in the far-off distance, but they'd sailed out too far to swim back, now. Marina was sat before him, wearing her stripy blue swimsuit, sobbing quietly to herself. The deep sea, and the solitude this far out at sea was making her nervous.

"Come on now, Mari..." her big brother sighed, pausing from rowing to pat her on the head, and ruffle her hair. "You wanted to see dad, right? We're gonna come out and see him. I bet he's not more further out, we'll see his boat sure enough, okay?"

This was the second week their dad had been gone from home, out retrieving stuff from a new site he and the rest of his group of Salvagers had found, which had valuable stuff inside, which would be going to a museum for restoration. The pain of missing him had finally gotten the better of the pair, and during a trip to the artificial beach on an island made of restored land, with their neighbour, who had brought them along, the two had finally put the plan in action to sail away and find him.

"'K-'Kay..." Marina sniffled, wiping tears from her eyes. She laid down solemnly, gripping the edge of the boat, and just staring out over the water. Surprisingly, the sea was rather calm today. Kai had been keeping track of the weather all week, and following websites reporting on the sea, waiting for the perfect day they could leave, and today was that day.

"You want anything to eat?" He spoke up, as they drifted on. He patted a small container which had supplies that, naively, would truly only last them a few hours at sea, and not the 'week' they thought they would be travelling on for. They had not thought this through, but at this age, it hadn't occurred to them this was a reckless and dangerous voyage they were undertaking.

And at this stage, too late to turn back.

"Nah... I'm not hungry..." Marina sighed, still moping about on her end of the boat. She dipped her hand in the water, and then the other, until she had her arms from the elbows down hanging in the sea.

The sun overhead was blazing down hot, and both were warm. Because there was no wind, there was no sea breeze to keep them cool, either. Kai pulled out a chilled canteen and drank some water from it, wiping the sweat from his brow. A sudden splash made them both sit up; one of the oars he'd put down during his brief lapse in rowing had slid off the rim of the boat, and was now floating in the open seas.

"Aww!" Kai groaned. He swiped at the oar uselessly, but it was too far out. "Rrrgh! Great, now I gotta dive in and get it..."

Marina sat in silence, watching him. He stood up, and then dived off of the boat rather skilfully. She wasn't surprised, since he'd taken lessons from an early age, and had aspirations of swimming professionally, or becoming a coastguard some day. Marina on the other hand had always been slightly nervous around water, and had only last year learned to swim. She had always been too nervous to actually leave the shallows, and only ever got as far as the middle of the pool, where her feet still touched the floor, and she was up to her chin in water.

Kai broke the surface of the sea, holding onto the oar handle, treading water. He grinned at her as he swam over, and rested the oar inside the boat, joining it with the other.

"What are you gonna do now?" She asked meekly, her hands resting on her knees.

"Goin' for a little swim, what does it look like?" He replied, drifting past on his back as though he were a sea otter, "it's too hot to keep rowing right now, I need to cool off. You oughta come in, too, it's great!"

"U-Um.. n-no way..." she muttered, turning her nose up at his suggestion, "I wanna stay in the boat..."

"Hah, your loss, not mine." He smirked, before vanishing off underwater.

Marina grumbled and shifted in her seat. She waited for a little while, listening to the sound of gulls overhead. It suddenly occurred to her how alone she was, up here on the surface, and she didn't like it. Sighing, she leant down against the edge, and cupped her hands in the salt water, splashing and washing her sweaty, flushed face, to refresh herself.

Kai still hadn't surfaced, and she was getting worried about him, missing his presence.

"Kai?" she called out, looking all around, but he must have dove deep, because she couldn't spot him at all anywhere around the boat.

"K-Kai?" she called again, leaning over the edge, staring down hopelessly into the depths. "KAI!"

Tears began forming in the corners of her eyes. Where was he? What if something happened? Despite her fears, she was desperately tempted to dive into the deep, blue waters, to search for him.

Just then, he broke through the surface, right in-front of her, making he scream, and fall over backwards onto her backside. His arrogant laughter at having scared her made her burst into tears, her hands clasped against her chest, where her heart was pounding away in her chest from the nasty shock.

"Aww, did I scare you, Mari?" he smirked, grinning away at her. He carefully got back onto the boat, dripping wet.

"Y-You're so mean!" Marina sobbed, crying into her hands, "I thought something bad happened to you! Don't you dare scare me like that again, or I'll never forgive you!"

"I wasn't gone that long, geez!" he grumbled, flexing slightly, brushing his damp hair out of his face. "Look, don't worry... I won't do it again, promise... I just wanted to see if I could see the sunken city."

Marina slowly calmed down, and swiped her arm across her face, to clear her eyes of tears. They'd both wondered what the city lost to the ravages of the ocean had looked like, and only their father had ever seen the place first hand. He'd told them many stories of his deep-sea trips before they went to bed... often adding in surreal elements like mermaids and sea monsters.

"I wonder if daddy ever did see a sea monster for real..." Marina commented, after thinking on the subject more. She never doubted her father once. Kai was more sceptical, but one night, he'd come home, nervous and shaken up, and she had to wonder what he'd found.

"I wouldn't mind findin' a cute mermaid, actually..." Kai said, going a noticeable shade of pink in the cheeks, "but ah... y-yeah, I wonder if dad was telling the truth about a sea monster?"

Both of them thought more on it, the night when their dad had come home, shaken up. He'd spoken cryptically, about finding something big, huge. On trying to press him, he'd doubted even they would've believed him.

"That was on the night he found the shiny red stone, wasn't it?" Kai murmured, thinking out loud. Marina nodded in confirmation, remembering about the red stone, too.

"Daddy said the other sailors thought it was cursed, and he regretted bringing it on board... what did they do with the stone?" she asked. That was something they never found out, along with hearing the whole story.

"Who knows..." he sighed, picking up the oars again, "but this isn't getting us anywhere fast..."

Kai's picking up of the oars signified that the conversation was over, and the time for talking had passed, and from that point on, he rowed in silence, focused on keeping track. Marina laid down and decided to take a nap, and her dreams were full of sea monsters, mermaids, sunken ruins, and a shiny red stone which cursed sailors.

When she woke up, the sun was beginning to set, and the beach was now looking small on the horizon. They'd drifted out so far, now, it seemed surreal, like they were floating in the middle of nothingness, of some other world, where sea and sky seemed to merge on the horizon.

Kai had stopped rowing, again.

"Why did we stop?" Marina asked, rubbing her eyes as she sat up. The waves which had picked up slightly and rocked her to sleep in the first place had grown still once more, and she noticed Kai's anxious expression.

"Shh!" He hushed sharply, glancing at her out of the corner of his eye, holding up his index finger to silence her from talking any more, keeping his own voice very low, "I saw a giant shadow, and it passed right under us..."

"W-What? W-when?" she whispered back, growing nervous, "y-you're not trying to scare me again, after the talk we had earlier, a-are you...?"

"No... t-this time, I'm serious... something is under the freaking boat..."

Marina slowly inched over towards the edge of their small wooden row-boat. Leaning over the edge, she could hardly make anything out in the sea water beneath their boat. Then she caught sight of it; an immensely large shape rushing right for them.

Screaming, she jumped back, knocking Kai back in the process. A giant blue and purple shark-like creature burst from the depths, smashing the end of the boat apart where Marina had been just moments before, and in turn, over-turning the boat, flinging the two kids overboard, head over heels into the water.

The giant fish-like monster came crashing down with a deafening splash, sounding out a loud roar, as a wall of sea-foam sprayed up on impact after it landed down, sideways, back into the sea.

Kai and Marina began to swim for their lives, in no particular direction, their panic making them swim any direction possible, as long as it was away from the terror behind them.

The waves began to build and grow beneath them, pushing and pulling them about, making their escape difficult. The strange monster appeared again, it's long fins breaking the surface as it rushed towards them, riding the wave. The two kids got pulled into the rapidly growing tube, the lip of the wave curling overhead, and the underbelly of the large shark-monster clearly visible. Both of them gasped, before the wave came crashing down, swallowing them whole, and forcefully pushing them out down under the cold seawater.

Just as it felt like everything was over, a smaller shadow shot past them, smashing into the shark monster head-first.

On reaching the surface again, Kai tried to keep Marina calm, as she was starting to panic and cry, both of them unable to take their eyes off the scene unfolding before them. A small blue dinosaur-like monster had forcibly rammed it's head into the shark's chin, bashing it away.

"I'll protect you! Please, hold on for me!" the dinosaur cried, giving them a reassuring smile over his shoulder.

The shark twisted, batting it's tail into the smaller blue dinosaur, who gripped onto it and held on tight to avoid being batted away, the bigger of the two now beginning to thrash about, making the sea froth and ripple violently. In one of it's more violent twists, it began to create waves once more.

The waves threw the two kids up, and on the way down, another wave caught them, knocking them deep underwater.

"MARINA!" the blue dinosaur yelled, as both kids vanished beneath the waves.

* * *

_"I'm going to die here..."_

_That was her last thought, as she felt her head throbbing and spinning. She had failed to reach the surface, and was sinking down._

_Something bright, like a falling star, was drifting down towards her. She couldn't make it out entirely, but it was there, within reach. She grasped it, this object which gave out pure light, and a warmth that spread through her finger tips._

_She clasped it close to her chest, tightly, over her heart, and began to pray, pray for survival, for someone to save her and her brother._

_"Please... Please help us... I don't want to die!"_

* * *

Kai had been struggling to reach Marina, where he had landed away from her, with the thrashing tail barring him from getting to her. He'd seen the glowing object she was weakly clasping onto, but had no idea what it was.

A bright white light seemed to fill the entire ocean, as the second creature seemed to burst apart, reforming into a bigger, stronger looking one, humanoid in shape, and wielding a weapon. He swam for Marina, pulling her up to the surface, before diving back down, and retrieving Kai.

Kai, despite his terror, felt safe in this being's arms. The bigger creature that had just moments ago been a small dinosaur smiled gently down at him, before they broke surface. Kai choked, coughing and spluttering as he and Marina gasped for breath. She clung weakly to Kai, looking drained and tired, before whispering a thank you up to their saviour.

The shark creature regained it's composure, and twisted back around to face them. It lunged towards them, jaws wide open, glinting, razor sharp fangs displayed, preparing to kill them all.

The kids screamed, clinging to one another in fear, bracing themselves for what seemed like the end...

but the end never came.

" _Breaker Blade_!"

Their benevolent protector rammed his blade-tipped weapon forward, jamming it into the mouth of oncoming beast of fury. With an agonized roar, the blade was driven in deeper, until the tip of the Guan Dao pierced through the top of the creature's head, and in a burst of sparkling red light, it was no more. Their saviour absorbed this into himself.

"Are you alright?" He asked the pair, after the danger had passed, and the water was calm once more.

"Y-Yeah, I think... I th-think so..." Kai murmured. Marina was so tired, she was too weak to make even the faintest sound. "M-My s-sis needs help... a-and we're so far from shore..."

"Leave that to me." The tall humanoid sea-monster replied, holding them both, one under each arm.

He briefly dove down, and began to swim, something between a dolphin and an otter, a strange technique that somehow seemed to work for this being. As he built up moment, he burst up, high over the sea, the kids clinging to his chest and waist.

As he came down, rather than crashing back into the water, he landed, right on the surface, in a full sprint, and like some kind of basilisk lizard, sprinted effortlessly like this, back to land, moving so fast he kicked up water in sprayed bursts behind him with every step, and just as the sun began to sink down into the ocean behind them in the horizon, they were now close enough to see the beach.

"Can you carry her the rest of the way? I don't it'd be cool if other humans saw me," the creature spoke, after turning and getting them near to some rocks near the shore. He was so tall compared to them, he seemed like a giant. "I'll be with you both from now on, okay? So don't sweat it, if the bad guys come again, I'll be there, alright?"

"O-Okay..." Kai murmured, nodding. Their new friend set Marina down onto Kai's back, so he could piggy back her away back to the beach. He didn't know how he'd ever explain he and Marina's disappearing act, but his head was too full of what had transpired to focus much on it, despite the fact half the beach was crawling with police looking for them.

"Be seein' you later! Take care of her until then... feels like I've waited my whole life to meet her, y'know..." and with that, he took off back into the sea, likely to hide away from the other approaching humans.

Kai stumbled forwards, on hearing someone yelling his name; the frantic neighbour, with their tear-stained face, run hoarse from all the yelling they'd been doing, where the search had been on for them all day long. Marina was almost asleep on his back, still gripping onto the strange device that had appeared, and seemingly transformed their mysterious hero back there.

* * *

"She nearly died... I had to be taken in for questioning, and she got taken to hospital, she was sick for a while after that whole ordeal... And it left her with a fear of being submerged underwater ever since..." Kai finished, having recounted the entire story to Darren, who had listened on in silence. "That's why I hate digimon... they put her at so much risk... and I can't stop it from happening..."

Marina had slowly come to, half-way through his retelling of their first meeting with Marinemon, who had also listened, in silence, holding Marina close again.

"Tylomon... I wasn't going to let him hurt you, and I don't plan on letting this guy out there hurt you, either..." Marinemon spoke up from the corner. "But as we said this morning... only we can put a stop to this stuff... Me and Elvermon, Marina an' Darren... or else worser things could happen..."

Kai swallowed, coming over and sitting by Marina. She sleepily leant against him, still looking rather drained.

"Kai... please don't hate Marinemon and Elvermon for this..." she murmured, peering up at him with tired, worried eyes. "I'll be alright... we'll get out of here, and get to Amy and Joey's, soon... then there'll be four of us, and we can't lose then, can we...?"

* * *

Medusamon bit her lip worried. She and the rest of the patrol had left the air hanger, and were now half-way towards the shopping mall. She was waiting anxiously to hear back from Sastrugamon; he was at least an hour or so late.

A female frigimon tending to her currently rested her big mitt-like hand on her shoulder gently.

"Don't worry so much, ma'am, I'm sure he'll be fine." She said softly, trying to reassure her anxious leader. Medusamon nodded, though still worried. "You care about him a lot, don't you?"

Medusamon nodded again, folding her arms, her cheeks looking rather rosy.

"I care about him a lot... he pulled us through many hardships, way-back-when... I don't know what I'd do without him..." sighing, she pulled away to sit more by herself, using her tail as a make-shift seat.

Frigimon nodded, closing her eyes, a happy sort of expression on her face. "I'm sure we'll reach a land where we can all be in peace. Nobody doubts that, ma'am."

"Thank you, Frigimon..." Medusamon sighed, still waiting patiently for any sign of her second-in-command.

Suddenly, a SnowAgumon rushed up through the nearby throng of amassed troops, looking frantic and out of breath. Medusamon sat up straight, focused on him, as he hurried to catch his breath.

"It's Sir Sastrugamon... he's returned, Lady Medusamon!" he gasped, panting, "he has urgent news, and is damaged!"

Medusamon straightened up promptly, slithering forward quickly, looking urgent.

"Please, take me to him, right away!"

Hurrying through the crowds, they came around the side of the corner-road they were stationed in, and she paused in her tracks on sight of him. He looked roughed up, and rather tired, sore and tense. She gasped and hurried over, hugging into his soft, feathery chest.

"Sastrugamon... what happened...?" she asked, her hands pawed against his chest, her voice racked with worry.

He bowed his head apologetically, blushing slightly over her being pressed against him as she was, her concern having touched him and made him feel better.

"I regret to inform you, my Lady, of an unfortunate development..." he sighed, speaking quietly, "three humans are out, two of them have digimon... they digivolved and engaged me in combat. I was caught off guard, but managed to subdue them, though I know not if they perished or survived, but one thing is for certain, if there are more of these 'tamers' about, I don't doubt we'll be seeing more showing up..."

Medusamon swallowed a lump that had been growing in her throat, her concern over this development being evident. And she knew what was coming. Sastrugamon was so bound to his responsibilities as being the only one who could scout and survey a large area from the air, that he'd be going off again, and what he said next confirmed her fears.

"I must set off immediately, the longer I am grounded here, the more progress potential enemies could be making going un-monitored." stepping past her, he spread his wings, before Medusamon called out to him.

"S-Sastrugamon... you'd better come back safe... so, please be more careful this time..." she murmured, though managing to smile for him.

Sastrugamon nodded in silence, before taking off, his heart beating away in his chest as hard as his wings were flapping.

* * *

"I wouldn't be surprised if we saw those giant as all hell footprints again, considering everything else we've been through today..." Kai sighed.

Marina and Darren were hitching a ride on Elvermon's back, and Kai was walking beside them on foot with Marinemon. They'd packed a heck of a lot more medical supplies after what had happened earlier with the attack from the mysterious aurora-making digimon. It had taken another hour just to get this far, but thankfully, the journey had gone without incident.

"Please don't jinx it. We're pretty close to Amy's apartment now, we can't be more than twenty minutes away from them, now." Darren replied. Marina had her arms around his waist, so she could keep steady behind him, since Elvermon sometimes had a bad habit of forgetting he had passengers and often put a spring into his step.

Both digimon were virtually back to normal, aside from scuffs. It was a wonder they held their forms as well as they had done, after the attack. Kai had to wonder if some power like hope and determination between both digimon and their human partners is what was enabling to cling on slightly longer.

"I think we take a right from here, and head down until the turning at the left..." Darren said out loud, after reading the map on his d-drive.

As everyone began to head out, the map screen on Darren's d-drive got interrupted by a warning signal, Marina's d-drive setting off at the same time with the same warning tone. Both digimon paused, tensing up again.

"There's digimon... lots of them, up ahead..." Elvermon growled, bowing down. His two passengers climbed down and dropped off his back, both he and Marinemon stepping forward expectantly, at the ready.

"You had to jinx it, didn't you?" Darren sighed, causing Kai to shoot him a stern glare.

Through the fog ahead, at least a hundred or so amassed creatures had appeared. the d-drives whirred into action as the pair scanned the mass of digimon infront.

Marinemon and Elvermon had been able to readily identify all but one, a green snake-like gorgon digimon leading the entire motley crew.

_[MEDUSAMON]_

_Level - Champion_

_Attribute - Virus_

_Type - Demon Man_

_Family - Nature Spirit, Dark Area_

_Attacks - Gorgon's Glare, Aegis of Night_

_A hideous digimon with living snakes as her hair, she is dangerous, and holds hatred of those who deny her the goals she aims for. Beware of Gorgon's Glare, an attack that petrifies all who look into her eyes, turning them to stone._

Medusamon pursed her lips sternly, her hands planted on her hips.

"Hideous? You carry some tacky little devices with you there," she drawled agitatedly, and rather dismissively, "One thing is correct, if you value your lives, you'll back down, now."

She was irked enough from the less than flattering introduction brought on by the d-drives, but she was holding back more rage on the fact that these had to be the people that Sastrugamon had described, three humans and two digimon, travelling together. It could be no other group.

"Why the hell have you done this?" Marina yelled, from Darren's side, taking the opportunity to confront her, considering that, unlike Sastrugamon, she was even bothering to talk.

"That's none of your business, sweetie," Medusamon replied, folding her arms across her chest, "You have five seconds to move aside, or I will ensure you are killed in the stampede that will happen shortly!"

Five seconds passed, and none of the human trio or their digimon budged an inch. As scary as it was, they were so close, and the enemy was right here, on top of this, there was no guarantee this strange digimon would keep her word, and no chance at all at them stopping the harsh weather.

"Fine. I gave you a chance, but you clearly have a death wish," she sighed, yawning away, as if this would be all too easy. "Alright, dears, show them what we do with people that get in the way!"

The large cluster of digimon under her command shot past with a deafening roar, claws, fangs and clubs at the ready.

Marinemon smirked, holding out his hands, as his eyes began to glow.

" _WHIRLING DEATH!_ "

A vast, swirling vortex of magic water opened up right in the middle of the street, causing the first row of approaching enemies to fall straight in and get sucked down, and the second wave, who had seen this coming, trying hard to slow down, but the preceding majority behind them bumped from the sudden halt, knocking many more in. The rookies of those numbers were dragged down to their deaths, with the bigger, stronger ones who hadn't died along with them barely escaping.

"I can fight these guys better than the last one, we're on even ground now!" Marinemon commented, confident after his first attack initiated on the opposing side worked.

The whirlpool slowly flowed away into nothingness, completely subsiding. This time, the bigger digimon came charging first. Marinemon rushed to greet them, with Elvermon by his side.

"Let me clear some out for you, brother!" Elvermon grinned, opening his mouth up wide, " _MIRE WHIP!_ "

The green swamp-beast's tongue shot out, grabbing the biggest Frigimon that was within reach, and used him like a club, smashing him back and forth against surrounding digimon, causing more rookies to burst apart in flurries of data.

Marinemon finished off the rival champion-level digimon with Breaker Blade, both of them carefully organizing their attacks to push back their numbers.

Medusamon however had had enough of this, on the edge of flying off into a deep rage.

"AEGIS OF NIGHT!"

Holding out her hands, two pulsating black orbs of energy appeared over her hands, and as she raised her hands up, so did she raised a shield of energy over as many of her followers as possible, deciding to take charge of things herself, and spare her side any more losses.

She raised two more shields, using them like a police officer's riot shields, beating and forcing Marinemon and Elvermon back, their attacks unable to penetrate through the powerful energy shields.

"I've had enough!" she snarled, until she had her hated foes together in one spot, the digimon taking a more defensive stance infront of their humans. But nothing they would do would save them from what she was going to perform next.

The group gasped in horrified realization, as the gorgon digimon removed the bandages covering her eyes.

" _GORGON'S GLARE!_ "

_To be continued..._


	8. An Icy Reception

_"I've had enough!" Medusamon snarled, until she had her hated foes together in one spot, the digimon taking a more defensive stance in front of their humans. But nothing they would do would save them from what she was going to perform next._

_The group gasped in horrified realization, as the gorgon digimon removed the bandages covering her eyes._

_"GORGON'S GLARE!"_

* * *

Kai was sat behind a half-buried car, shivering, numb, and distraught. The tears he had cried had long since dried, leaving his face icy-cold and pale. But again and again, his thoughts, which seemed stuck on replay, set him off spiralling down into some dark place inside himself with grief.

Half an hour ago, they had confronted Medusamon, and now... he was all alone. Marina had pushed Kai out of the way, yelling at him to run and get to Amy and Joey's place, and not look back. He'd been given Marina's D-Drive, and had ran and hid down a nearby alley, but hadn't been pursued, and the digimon on the opposing side had maybe deemed him as no threat, since he lacked a partner of his own.

He'd felt stupid, for running, leaving her... and he'd regretted it on coming back, after hearing the sounds of the now slightly reduced army pass by. On returning, he'd been greeted with a sight that made his blood run cold.

His sister, Darren, and their digimon, had become statues, left behind by the army to become lost under the building snow. Kai had screamed in disbelief and horror on the sight, and had remained there for ten minutes, too stunned to move. He was lost without his sister, and with no digimon to protect him, had no idea what he should do. He was an emotional wreck right now, on the brink of giving up, feeling utterly hopeless.

Burying his head in his arms, his knees pulled up to his chest, he sobbed brokenly, unable to hold back the pain and grief plaguing him. Everything hurt. He wished so desperately he had stayed back, and felt like he had betrayed his sister and Darren by running... but he'd known, the moment the gorgon digimon removed her bandages, what was coming, they'd all been able to guess their fate, and his little sister was depending on him to get to her friend's house and get their help... it was the only remaining option.

He got up, his legs trembling, stumbling and staggering forward. He had completely forgotten what was expected of him, at first, but tried to focus on just getting to the right destination. He needed to, for his sister's sake. He wandered on like this, lost in a daze, some grey phantom of his former self in an equally grey world.

He struggled to understand how to use Marina's D-Drive. Marinemon's status was marked 'unknown', and where his profile image would have been was now a gargled mess of pixellated static. It perfectly represented the indefinite state the rest of the party was in, and Kai had no idea if they were dead or alive under the stone spell the gorgon had placed on them.

Eventually, he managed to get the map up. Fate must have taken mercy on him, because he was very close; the marker Marina had placed on Amy's address was now showing just barely on screen.

But the cold and depression were getting to him. He wanted to shrink down, and curl up, unable to escape his sorrow, grief and guilt. His limbs were so sore and stiff, he ached just moving in a fraction. He'd reached his limits, and felt he could go no further, and as the fog seemed it's thickest, he dropped down onto his knees, fresh tears dripping down his face and onto the powdered snow beneath him.

He felt so cold, and tired, and empty. He felt himself losing track again, and as he went to force himself back onto his feet, he looked up, and caught sight of something that truly shocked him.

Just ahead, barely visible in the fog, was another person, a young teen, wearing only a loose-fitting t-shirt and shorts, bare-foot. Kai felt the coldness had finally gotten to him, but the figure ahead was so real, he knew it was no trick of the mind. It couldn't be.

"H-Hey!" he called out, stumbling forward, groggily. He was so numbed over and tired that it didn't register how odd and unnatural this kid's appearance was. All he knew is that he didn't want to be alone outside in this lonely, frozen world.

It was as if the stranger had been awaiting him; however, before Kai could get any closer, the other male, or at least, Kai assumed male, turned and ran out of sight down the nearby street.

"W-Wait!" Kai yelled, struggling, but managing to pick up his feet. He began dashing as fast as his body and the snowy ground below would allow, trying to keep this mysterious person in sight, though the fog made this impossibly difficult.

Around the corner, Kai stared ahead, up the street. The strange kid was at the other end, seemingly waiting for him once more. Kai repeated things again, dashing forward, calling out to the other person, with the younger one always vanishing off just as Kai got within clearer sight of him.

This continued, until Kai turned the last corner, and wound up in front of a tall apartment complex. The mysterious teenager had gone, now, leaving Kai on his own. Just as he wondered what had happened, and where the only other being out in this mess could have gone to, Marina's D-Drive beeped loudly, drawing his attention.

This was the place... had the strange kid lead him here? How was that even possible? It hurt his head to try to think about it out here, and he really needed to get inside. Thankfully, on reaching where the door would have been, had the snow not completely covered it, he found that someone had begun tunnelling a way in... or rather, out.

And the ones responsible for this tunnel were waiting for him. They didn't need to introduce themselves; he knew straight away who they were, considering two curious digimon were peering up by their sides. They were Amy and Joey, the ones he had been looking for.

"I'm so glad to see you guys..." Kai sighed, before things got too much for him, and he passed out, where his body was too tired and cold to stay conscious any longer.

* * *

It had taken only a short while to get Kai into Amy's apartment, and as soon as they had retreated back inside again, they carried him over to the sofa and laid him down, with Amy hurrying to fetch pillows and blankets to cover him.

The snow had made Kai's clothing wet, and after Amy and Laelapmon left to give them some privacy, Joey got Kai out of his wet, icy clothing, and dried his chest and legs down with a towel wet with warm water. There was no way to get him to a hospital if his condition worsened, and so both he and Amy, despite her wanting to give the guy some dignity, treat him as best they could.

"I wonder what happened to Darren and Marina..." Amy murmured quietly, sat by Joey after they'd gotten Kai bundled up more. She took the flannel they had placed on their patients forehead and placed it back in the tub of hot water they'd warmed using the kettle, since the water system still would not give hot water. She wrung the flannel of excess water, and then placed it back onto the sleeping young man's pale forehead again. "He seems exhausted... I... something bad must have happened..."

"Don't jump to conclusions just yet, Amy. We're still here, and no doubt with the Resistance and Arch Angel still active, something's got to give, soon." Joey replied, looking sternly down at Kai.

"Let's just wait for him to recover, so he can tell us what we're dealing with... I want to know what happened to the others, too..."

Amy got up, and wandered over to the table. Laelapmon and Manimon were sitting side-by-side at the table, in silence. The usually snippy rabbit seemed to lack any smart comments today, more so since the revelation that his beloved Marina's current status was unknown.

The anxious blonde stood by the table, leaning against it, her hands pressed down on the smooth, cold table-top, staring down at Marina's D-Drive. Marinemon's status was still flickering and glitched out, and all his information was replaced with "Unknown".

"They're... statues..." Kai groaned, sitting up painfully, where his joints ached sorely, "Darren... Sis... the digimon..."

Amy hurried back over and sat beside Joey, who also sat up straight on Kai finally rejoining them. Both Laelapmon and Manimon scurried over to sit nervously by their partner's sides, as Kai explained everything that had happened to them during the course of the day, up to now.

The accounts of Sastrugamon, Medusamon, the mysterious paw prints that neither of those digimon or their followers matched, what had become of their friends and Kid's sudden mysterious appearance gave them a lot to think about.

* * *

Manimon had been unable to stop crying over Marina since finding out what had happened. Laelapmon had one of her ears draped over his back, trying to comfort him. Joey and Amy were both in silence, staring down at the ground in deep thought, trying to wrap their heads around these developments.

"Turned to stone... I can't believe such a thing could really happen..." Joey muttered in a grim tone, his arms folded across his chest, "So there is a small army of Digimon travelling about, and already, they've taken down half of our team..."

"I... I don't know what to say, or do..." Amy murmured in response. She felt numb from shock, still, and to say she was down was an understatement, she seemed empty and mixed inside. The shock had not properly set into the humans or their digimon, nobody present could seem to fathom the effect that had befallen their allies.

Joey licked his dry lips, polishing his glasses repeatedly, as if he'd switched on to autopilot, going through the motions without thinking about what he was doing, lost in thought.

"We have to find the Resistance, and Barghestmon... we need to get with the others, make sure that we're not out-numbered... failing that..." the bespectacled blonde began, placing his glasses back on his face, "...I don't want to think about the fate of the city... I can't trust Arch Angel to do a much better job... for all we know, they may have wanted this to happen."

Amy startled slightly from her own thoughts, especially at Joey's assumption on Arch Angel. She stood up, nervously, to stretch her legs. Biting her bottom lip anxiously, she gazed out of the glass panels on the door leading out onto her balcony, at the snowy, foggy town, standing silent and grey in the freezing air.

"I'm not defending them, but... who could honestly want this to happen? How could anyone live long in these conditions?" She replied, wringing her hands anxiously as she paced about back and forth, "But I agree... we must find more tamers who could help us..."

Joey got up, heading over to grab their own bag of supplies they'd managed to scrounge together. Amy did not have the same range of supplies Kai's group had managed to put together, as this had caught her completely off-guard. Should they survive this endeavour, she swore to herself to keep more useful gear on hand in future.

"I don't know if I can count on the Resistance... I still have a few misgivings about them..." Joey murmured, "after all, being so secretive... Using tactics akin to terrorism... And they know a lot about us, and you know them a little better than I do, Amy, but not enough for them to truly be allies, not really... but if they really are investigating this, I guess we have no choice. We'll have to hope we get lucky and don't bump into the opposition first..."

Amy had a bit more confidence in the resistance. Regardless of their methods of dealing with things, and how she had been whisked down in a way akin to being _kidnapped_ , she had come out safe and sound, with Laelapmon's digivolution ability restored. They also knew a lot more than she did on what was going on, and had the technology and team to make this happen. If anyone could help them, she was positive they could.

Kai gave the pair the general directions he'd followed, from where Kid had supposedly led him. Amy was curious about this, and whilst everyone set off to try to pick up the trail around the area that the fighting had taken place, Joey told Amy about Kid.

He'd put off talking about Kid since the first time he and Manimon had encountered him, since he'd forgotten, what with everything else going on. And whilst odd, it was only now he was sighted outside, here in the snow, apparently knowing where they lived, that he was given cause for alarm.

"There was a strange kid in the canteen at work, bushy blue hair that covers his eyes, loose-fitting white t-shirt and shorts, just... I thought he may have just wandered in off the street, or something. Just... everything was unsettling about him." Joey explained, hoisting the bag of supplies up a little more, "Like, he was so out of place. Like he didn't... belong? It's hard to explain... Manimon could tell you more, I'm sure."

The bespectacled male turned his gaze down at Manimon, in a way suggesting the rabbit should continue the explanation. The small cyan digimon seemed to shie away from his partner's stare, where he was still shaken up over the news of the others. Unlike Laelapmon, who was keeping up good pace despite her own thoughts, Manimon had started lagging behind them.

Joey sighed, and tweaked Manimon's ear tip, which had the rabbit snapping back to focus. Sighing, Manimon finally continued.

"He claims he lives in Arch Angel, had never seen outside the building, knows about Hal and wants him to 'notice' him, has no memories nor does he remember his name..." Manimon sighed, rubbing his arms a little, "actually... despite the weirdness of it all... I feel sorry for him..."

Joey managed to smile at this comment. Manimon seemed to, in all the time he'd known him, be showing more of a nice side towards others, feeling sympathy or empathy for other people. Despite the situation they were all in, Manimon really did care, it seemed.

"I don't think a person like that could be bad," Laelapmon spoke up. The others had slowed a little without realizing as Manimon had been talking, so she'd taken the lead. "Mr. Kai made it to us, because Kid showed him the way... if he was against us, he wouldn't have helped us, I don't think..."

She stopped, turning to look over her shoulders at the others, who all nodded in agreement. Even so, as everyone picked up the pace, the fact Kid was wearing a thin t-shirt and shorts running around bare foot in the worst (artificial) 'winter' that Neo Tokyo would ever see left more questions to which no-one could hope to answer at this point.

"Well, let's think about how we're going to go about things," Joey spoke after a little while, as they turned right to head down another snow-covered street, everyone beginning to shiver as the cold really started to set in, "It's going to get dark, eventually... we'll need to find shelter. We can't go back, because they'll be far too ahead of us for us to track again..."

"If the worst comes to the worst, we'll just break into the nearest building," Amy replied, in all seriousness, Joey giving her a surprised look. She cocked an eyebrow at him and continued, "What? You said it yourself, we can't go back, and I certainly don't fancy trying to spend the night outside, or in some alcove. No, the only thing for it is to just break in."

Joey still seemed very surprised over this, since Amy had usually been so unsure of herself, or her abilities, and didn't usually take change or make such bold suggestions here. She seemed to be coming more out of her shell, the reality of things having set in, and now she seemed to be making more of an effort to think more practically.

"My, my, Amy, you've certainly changed," Manimon grinned, managing to perk himself up, grinning away, "You're certainly not the same girl from a few days ago, that's for sure. It's kind of infectious, actually..."

"H-Huh?" the blonde looked down at Manimon, her cheeks tinged pink over his comments, "what do you mean?"

"Actually... ever since things happened, with Hiro, and such... you've been fighting a lot more," Joey commented, "Don't think I don't remember the shy and quiet girl you used to be, going back some years... but I mean, especially since coming to Japan, you did stuff I never expected you to ever do. Such as crawl through a vent system into a room with a giant worm in it, or try to force Barghestmon off of Laelapmon when he's far bigger than you..."

Amy managed a little smile. They'd known each other for so long, these things were so noticeable for the other when one did something unexpected, against their character, or just plain unusual. To pass the time going through this bleak, gray and white city, the two began to reminisce about the past.

"You were always very assertive with our work, always pushing us to get our assignments done," Amy sighed, remembering with pride all the good work they got done for their classes, "The only time you got hopelessly shy, though, seemed to be around that one girl from one of your study groups."

"Don't I know it!" Manimon interrupted, smirking wickedly, flashing his famous rabbit-y buckteeth, "He's like that now, with this other girl!"

Joey's face went so red, he felt sure it could be felt from where Amy and Manimon were standing.

"I do not!" He retorted, looking uncharacteristically shy all of a sudden. It was already embarrassing enough that he felt hopelessly awkward around, say, Neon, whom he still knew as Kaede, but having it so obvious to others, it felt a tad bit too discomforting.

"It's alright, Joey," Amy giggled, patting his arm in a friendly manner, "It's nothing to be ashamed of. I just wish things went your way, more often."

She didn't understand all the details, but on Joey's last year of college, things hadn't gone too well, and it had all been because of a girl he had been crushing on. He'd gotten so withdrawn, he'd become reclusive and shut himself away from others. Amy's dad knew more, and seemed to be at least in contact with his former student, but because Joey had wanted things kept confidential, Amy was left out of the loop. She had no idea what had happened to Joey, or the girl he presumably still had feelings for, considering she had caught him mentioning her once or twice to Manimon previously.

Joey's shoulders slumped slightly, his head slightly hung low as unwanted memories began to surface. Namely memories of his college years. He shook his head as if trying to dispel these dark thoughts, trying to get his head back to the current events that were happening right now.

Manimon gazed up at his tamer, his expression dropping a little as he witnessed Joey's anguished fight with himself. He walked over to Joey and rested a paw on his tamers hand, looking up with a reassuring smile that seemed to pull Joey out of his sudden broody moment. Joey smiled down and patted the small rabbit's head.

"Thanks, Manimon." He murmured. He felt a bit more perked up thanks to Manimon's support. Even if the rabbit sometimes was for a loss for words, just showing he cared spoke volumes more than talking, sometimes.

There was an awkward silence that followed after this, not helped by Amy's guilt and feeling responsible, since she had brought the issue up in the first place, and then accidentally causing Joey to remember things he was uncomfortable thinking about. After a while, she thought she might try to lighten the mood by changing the subject.

"I bet the Resistance's secret digimon could easily stop the ones causing these problems," Amy commented, since it had completely skipped her mind to tell Joey more about the Resistance. He had shown curiosity in what they were like, but for their confidentiality she'd not spoken about them, but she felt it might provide a good enough distraction by finally indulging his curiosity. "Or did Barghestmon tell you anything, considering he was in on the entire thing?"

"Barghestmon didn't mention much, really, about the Resistance. Only that they were gonna fix your D-Drive and such." He replied thoughtfully, "So what's this about a secret digimon, then?"

"It's a huge worm-like, metallic dragon digimon. A machine, or at least partly so... and it's by far the biggest thing I've ever seen in my life!" Amy still remembered how surprised and taken aback she had been on seeing SysOpmon for the first time, "The impressiveness didn't really sink in until I left, I guess. I couldn't really wrap my head around it... that they had something that big, and powerful-looking, in their own base, right under the noses of everyone up here- even Arch Angel."

"He's the one that helped remove the block that was stopping me from digivolving," Laelapmon added, wagging her tail. She was still pleased with the result from that day, because it truly meant her days of not being able to fight with everything she had were now over. "For some reason, he seemed to take a certain interest in me..."

"Yes..." Amy confirmed, in thought. "It was kind of mysterious, but... he said he thought Laelapmon was something 'special'."

Joey brushed his index finger over his bottom lip as if in deep thought.

"Hmm. It seems that the Resistance are more beguiling than I had first thought." He rubbed his finger against his lips thoughtfully, but shook his head, as if his thoughts had ended up at a dead end. "It kind of makes you wonder what they are actually capable of."

"I don't think they have any intention of threatening the city," Amy replied, hoisting her bag up over her shoulder more. The group started around another corner, heading down the last street Kai had remembered, "They seem completely obsessed with taking down Arch Angel..."

"Because Arch Angel kills innocent digimon," Laelapmon reminded her, "Cadmemon had filled me in on that whilst I was being 'worked' on."

And from the look on Amy's face, Cadmemon had informed her tamer of all the gruesome details, too.

"I've always suspected Arch Angel were up to something, but I don't think they're actually killing Digimon." Joey shook his head as if he couldn't believe what he was hearing. "They must have been mistaken or something."

"Well, I have no reason to doubt what Cadmemon said," Laelapmon murmured, her eyes narrowing in disgust. The more she heard of Arch Angel, the more she was growing to dislike them, "Don't forget, they might be teenagers, but they have access to military brand computer terminals, with a giant machine-dragon capable of hacking D-Drives and getting into Arch Angel's servers."

"Actually Joe," Manimon began "There may be some truth to what Cadmemon had said to Laelapmon. I mean, the first time we met her, she literally spat Arch Angels name when she mentioned them."

Joey shrugged his shoulders. "Don't get me wrong, guys. I'm not doubting you at all. I just prefer not to believe everything via word of mouth. I guess I'm the type of person who needs proof before I actually decide to believe in what I've been told." He turned his head to look at Amy. "Does that make me a bad person?"

His eyes widened a little with concern, knowing that he held a different opinion to what his friends had, since they were all convinced something utterly evil was going on there, and he had yet to see anything concrete.

Before anyone could say any more on the subject though, they came upon the remains of Marina and Darren's battle with what appeared to be an absolute mess of footprints that indicated a large number of digimon had been present.

But the thing that perhaps shocked and upset them more was seeing the statues of their friends. Just as Kai had said, they had been turned to stone, motionless and grey rock figures in the abandoned street. Snow was slowly beginning to cover the four who had been only moments away from getting into the home-stretch and in the same safety that had been afforded to Kai. Everything about this was absolutely heartbreaking to those who had stumbled across this solemn scene.

Marinemon was stood against Marina, has body half-twisted where he had tried to shield her eyes, but hadn't been fast enough. His arms were locked around her in an eternal embrace, now, with her clinging tightly to him, a look of surprise on her face, whatever she had been looking at having caught her off guard.

Darren had been in mid-sprint, trying to get to her side. His arm was frozen, out-stretched, reaching for her in vain, never being able to get to her. Elvermon had been trying to keep Darren covered, by the mesmerized and shocked look suggested he had been unable to look away in time, if at all. Every one of the stone figures seemed as though they had been transfixed on the stare from the gorgon digimon.

Manimon walked over to the stony figures that were Marinemon and Elvermon, touching them one at a time with his paws. "They are the most annoying creatures ever... but they didn't deserve this..." he shook his head, a bewildered expression etched on his face as he lightly patted their stone bodies. Joey leaned forward to get a close look at Marina, also shaking his head solemnly.

"Seems Medusamon didn't want anyone to follow her..." Joey sighed with exasperation. "I'm glad Kai managed to escape. It's actually a miracle that someone without a digimon partner could even get away from something capable of turning living things into stone."

Amy looked from one statue to the next, stunned, and in disbelief. The surreality of it all was making her feel nauseated and upset. It took her a moment to gather herself taking it all in. It was as if Kai's words had been heard, but not truly sunk in. Just how was anyone supposed to take the news that their friends had been trapped in unbelievable circumstances? And she suddenly understood what Joey had said earlier, how it was hard to believe something until you saw it with your own eyes.

"This is inhumanely cruel..." she muttered, utterly reviled at the sight, "I... I honestly can't tell if they're even..."

"Don't say it..." Laelapmon murmured, in a small voice. She didn't want her tamer to give into thinking that what had happened couldn't be reversed. Amy seemed to understand, and stopped before saying the grim thing she had been moments away of suggesting.

"It just doesn't add up. They were clearly out-numbered, here, but rather than be killed, they were turned to stone..." Amy mused. Whilst she felt disgusted and angered at what happened, it really didn't make any sense. "Do you think they can be reasoned with? We could try talking to them to get to the bottom of this. It's crazy talk, I know, but... it just doesn't make sense, that a vast number of enemy digimon chose the lesser-evil when dealing with adversaries?"

Joey had walked over to the figure of Darren, gazing thoughtfully into his unblinking, stony eyes as if trying to find any clue if he can see or even hear him. "I have to admit, Amy, you're right. It just doesn't make sense. What ever Medusamon is up to, she wanted them more out of the way, rather than kill them" He left that thought hanging briefly as he tapped on Darren's shoulder momentarily.

"All that's left to do now, is to follow the trail they left for us." Laelapmon suggested, having walked up the trail a little. She didn't want to spend any more time in this depressing place, allowing the trail to go cold, becoming lost under the snowfall, "The sooner we catch up to them all, the better, before we lose the trail!"

Everyone hurried to follow after the small white dog digimon, who led them forward in silence. The trail seemed to twist and turn a few times, almost giving the impression that the large group of wandering digimon had no clue where they were going, but it seemed way too deliberate.

It was almost like they were going somewhere very specific.

"Where on earth are they going?" Amy asked, as they continued to follow the slushy, trampled ground from the mass of stamping that had been done by the digimon that had gone travelling through. "What could they possibly want out here? Aside from the shopping district, there's nothing else along this way that would be of interest to digimon..."

Manimon sneezed due to the chilling weather, his nose running a little. "Perhaps there's something at the shopping district that we don't know about." He sniffed, wiping his nose on his glove.

"Perhaps..." Joey shivered slightly but ignored the chilling winds "There's only one way to find out. There is no other place they could have gone that I can think of."

They didn't have much farther to go before their D-Drives buzzed to life, countless dots showing up on the radar screen. This was it, they had caught up to their targets. It was only a matter of time before they would be seeing their foes for themselves.

* * *

"Is everything alright?" Sastrugamon asked, as Medusamon rested her head against his soft, feathery chest. He stroked her snakey-hair more out of her face, in concern. Black blood had dripped from the third eye concealed behind her bandages, which were heavily stained.

"Ah... it's nothing... just went a little bit overboard..." she sighed, looking drained. He gently brushed his wing-tips against her cheeks worriedly, hoping to soothe her. Gorgon's Glare had the draw back of causing her injury if she did too much at once to too many targets. He was anxious over the state of her eyesight, but didn't press her too much on the subject.

"Speaking of which, I have something to tell you..." he started, lowering his voice, "Four of those lackeys working for Arch Angel are lurking about. They've been tracking me... I need to draw them away from here, from our troops, and..."

He cast his gaze over towards several sacks, which contained all of the digitama that been brought over. There was one very special sack, tied with a ribbon around it, that held especially deep significance to the pair. Inside the sack was two specific digi-eggs, which contained their adopted next-of-kin, which would eventually hatch into the lower forms of their species.

"...for their sake, and yours, I need to make sure they don't reach you." He concluded quietly. He watched her, sadly, studying her face. She was the most precious, beautiful digimon to him, his treasure. He would do anything and everything to make sure she and all the digitama would escape.

Suddenly, he saw her lean up, cupping her hands against his soft, snow-white cheeks, her touch making his face grow hot from his emotions. He lowered his head more for her, so she could reach better, and in turn, gave her easy access for the kiss she left on his face. He shivered over the affectionate action, the feeling of joy welling inside him almost fit to burst.

"You're too nice to me... I almost feel unworthy..." she sighed, managing to smile up at him tenderly, despite the pain she was in from the extent of her attack from earlier. She always had time for a smile for Sastrugamon, however.

Their moment together grew to a close, as Sastrugamon prepared to take off, going on a mission to distract and draw away the agents that were out there, tracking onto him. Medusamon felt scared. It was four of the enemy's best 'warriors' with their equally formidable digimon, against Sastrugamon.

"Wait!" She called, hurrying after him. She needed to tell him something, before he left, "Sastrugamon... please, in case... in case something happens, I..."

The great white bird silenced her from continuing, pressing his wing tip lightly against her lips.

"No... I promise, Medusamon, I will be back to you, as soon as those trouble-makers are drawn away. You have my word, my lady. I will see you again, soon..." He exclaimed, nuzzling his beak against her cheek. "You are not much further from the mall, now... hurry and get safely inside, with everyone."

And with that, Sastrugamon left. His heart had been pounding, wondering what Medusamon had been about to say, but he didn't want to hear it, not just yet. All the while he was still alive and able, he wanted to make sure she stayed safe. His promise to return would help keep him strong through this. After all, there was something important he wanted to tell her, too.

"Oh Frigimon..." Medusamon whimpered, almost seeming to collapse into her female companion's strong polar arms, "I'm so scared... the more we go on, the more scared I feel I'll lose him..."

Frigimon had been nearby during the pair's conversation, stood in heart-wrenching silence. Her leader was in agony over all of this, and it broke her heart to be unable to help much, after all, she couldn't guarantee or promise Sastrugamon's safe return. All she could do was try to keep her spirits up, gently stroking Medusamon's cheek with her big thumb.

"You know him better than anyone else, ma'am," she replied, her voice gentle and soft, "He'd move heaven and earth, to get back to your side."

This comment made Medusamon's heartbeat race, blushing like a schoolgirl. Frigimon wished things were different, because her brave leaders love was threatened by so many things right now. She hoped this time, love would overcome all odds and truly conquer all. It worked in fairy tails, why couldn't it work, just this once, for real?

Only time would tell how things would play out, whether they would succeed, or fail.

* * *

The group had seen everything, but been unable to hear what had been said from behind the cover of a truck in the street. They had taken a short-cut down an alley after heading after the large cluster of dots on the D-Drive, apparently hitting the jack pot with their find.

"The others must have fought and killed a few of them off already, I was expecting more of them..." Amy commented quietly, ducking back behind the truck again. "But there's still too many, and that gorgon digimon is there..."

Joey peered out from where they were hiding, surveying the scene ahead, "Somehow, we must try and get closer. I can't hear what they're talking about properly at this distance." He shuffled slightly in his spot, his legs cramping from the position he was kneeling in.

"You guys stay here, this looks like a job for the King of Rabbits," and with that, Manimon had scurried right under the truck, using the snow dune underneath as a bunker "I'll try and take a closer look." He slowly began to drag himself closer to the enemy group, straining his ears to pick up any vital piece of information.

Everyone seemed to hold their breath, watching him inching forward bit by bit, advancing towards a half-buried car for more cover. He was almost there, all he had to do was to pass by a mound of snow that had built up near to the car, and-

"Ah HAH!" Cried a sudden, loud voice. Two arms burst from the snow mound, as a SnowGoburimon leapt out from the mound, scattering snow everywhere. It was so sudden that Manimon had no time to react, where he had been caught completely off-guard. The rabbit yelped as the goblin digimon pinned him down, struggling to keep him restrained, all the noise attracting the attention of the other digimon from the assembled mass nearby.

Joey jumped to his feet in shock, practically running out to try to get to his partner before the captured rabbit was clubbed to death by the mob crowding around him. He didn't get far until a Mojyamon had him caught with his big, strong hands, restraining Joey's arms behind his back.

"Stay here, and keep hidden!" Amy whispered, concealing Laelapmon under the truck, half-buried under snow. Before Laelapmon could even protest, Amy was heading out from behind the truck too, holding her hands up as she went out, to show that she yielded to them without resistance. She hoped they could be reasoned with, trying to ignore the growing sense of worry building inside of her.

Joey struggled, fighting to get out of the large fuzzy digimon's grip. "GET OFF!" He cried out, just for the Mojyamon currently restraining him to tighten his grip "MANIMON!" He called for his partner who was being restrained currently by the icy goblin digimon.

Manimon struggled to get free, himself, on seeing Joey being manhandled by the hairy beast currently keeping him captive, but the SnowGoburimon who had captured him during the ambush had received help from a second of the goblin digimon in bounding his arms and legs with rope.

The mob surrounding the two tamers and Manimon parted to allow Medusamon through them all. After sashaying through a throng of SnowAgumon and Mojyamon, she and Frigimon, who was still accompanying her, waltzed right on up to inspect the 'catch'.

"What an interesting day this has been... we've caught more of these little rats scurrying around!" Medusamon commented sarcastically, standing before the three with her arms held akimbo. "Let me guess, you were thinking of trying to sneak up behind us all and try picking us off whilst you had the element of surprise, eh?"

"I'm more surprised you learned to up your freaking security after that blue menace and his child-minded green-booger of a cat-fox got through as many of your followers as they had!" Manimon quipped back, managing a cocky smile. But the glare he received back from the gorgon digimon had him promptly silenced.

"Please, wait!" Amy called out, from where she was currently being held in place by two SnowAgumon, "Please, we've lost two of our close friends because of this, and you've lost many followers... couldn't we talk about this?"

"An interesting and  _predictable_ approach, of course," the snake woman mused, rubbing her chin in thought, "You show more guts than the young man who escaped earlier, considering neither of you have digimon... but of course, it's impossible for you to escape, so of  _course_  you would beg for your life."

"Please," Amy started, still trying to appeal to Medusamon. Joey looked as if he was so doubtful of them even getting through to her, that he'd given up hope, "Surely you have your reasons for doing this to our city, our home... but our friends, and the lives of everyone who lives here, are at stake because of this blizzard you've created... if we were to help you, would you please stop this, and return our friends to normal?"

Medusamon seemed to consider this, slithering off to one side to think. Her earlier attacks had left her feeling too drained, so turning them to stone was out of the question. There was also the advantage of holding them hostage in case the pests from Arch Angel tried anything with her beloved Sastrugamon... but she didn't trust these humans further than she could throw a stone, that much was certain.

"I don't trust you.  _Any_  of you," She replied, approaching back towards them, still seeming to consider her options, "But you should consider yourself lucky, that I'm even keeping you alive, let alone go un-afflicted with petrification. You three will just have to come with us until we can reach some arrangement. We can't have you running off like the last little mouse did, trying to grab more reinforcements!"

Joey looked up at Medusamon, his eyes narrowed "What do you plan to do with us then?" He enquired curiously.

"I'm sure we'll find a nice place for you three, when we reach the biggest shopping mall in your precious city. We'll be transforming it into a beautiful fortress, a sanctuary for ourselves, until we make plans for our next move..." Medusamon commented, feeling confident that there would be no more problems since capturing these three so 'easily', "Though, at this stage, it's too early to say what we'll do with you when we're ready to leave this place... I'm sure you'll have a lot of time to think about this when we get there, though!"

Laelapmon hung her head solemnly on hearing this. She listened to Medusamon and her cronies laughing away cruelly, before leading the three captives off. Now, it all fell to her to try to save them. She felt alone, and helpless. Barghestmon hadn't trained her on coping solo, so she'd have to just grin and bare it through the oncoming task of rescuing the others.

Once the rabble had left, she crawled out from underneath the truck, shook herself off from the chilly, wet snow, and took up on tracking them all.

* * *

Laelapmon had lost track of time, having lost count of the hours that had passed since her forced separation from the others.

The footsteps left by the troupe of enemy digimon were still fresh, which made following easy. There were times she had to be extra cautious, whenever the sound of chattering voices came within earshot, because if they were close enough to be heard, then they were close enough to hear her, too.

The entire unspoken 'mission' that had been left to her was lonely going. She had no clue how the others were holding up, but they were relying on her to find a way to get them out of trouble, and that alone solidified her resolve to make sure they would come out safe, though this didn't stop her from inwardly cursing to herself about Manimon accidentally getting everyone busted in the first place. She promised herself that she would bite his tail for sure after this was all over... providing that idiot lived long enough to receive the chewing out.

The sun was beginning to set, now. The air was getting almost unbearably cold with the temperature dropping further now it was growing late in the day. She wasn't sure how much longer it was until everyone reached this 'mall' they were travelling too, either. She also hadn't eaten all day, so she had no clue how much longer her energy would hold out, especially with the inevitable rescue attempt coming up.

"I need to catch up to them..." She murmured aloud, to break the disconcerting silence that was all around her. She hadn't heard anything from the rabble in a while, where she usually lagged behind so far as to make sure they were always at least one street ahead, so she could stay hidden from view.

But on catching up with the trail, she was even less prepared for what she saw before her. The trail just ended, fading into nothing, at the worst possible place; a 4-way junction. She grew frantic, and almost lost herself in a sudden wave of panic. But something else caught her attention, and she went over to inspect, trailing her own petite paw-prints behind her, across the fresh snow which had concealed the others tracks.

It was an unmistakable, huge paw print.

Nothing this big had been traveling with the group, something that size would've been unmissable. It suddenly sunk in why the trail had ended; Medusamon's group had seen this print, and been bothered enough by it's sudden appearance that they'd started covering their tracks. Now, Laelapmon had a new reason to feel frightened; if this thing out there was enough to scare the reptile Queen and her followers into trying to avoid confrontation, then what chance did she stand, on her own.

Backtracking to the center of the junction, she sat down and shivered. She certainly wasn't going to go the same way the owner of those giant paw-prints went, but this logically left only two routes left they could have possibly taken. Left, or right. She had to choose, and hope she picked the correct turning, or else they would be too far ahead. And they could already be anywhere by now.

She felt inexplicably drawn to the route to the right of where she had come from, which led down a darkened street, where the sun was vanishing down behind more buildings on the horizon. She felt she had a hunch about it, like somehow, she felt certain this could be the way that everyone had gone. Setting off, she began trotting down the shadowed street, until she came to yet another 4-way junction.

It suddenly hit her how this was not as straightforward as she had initially thought. It really wasn't a matter of just picking left or right, any more. Starting to panic, she flew down one of the turnings at random, finding another 4-way junction. She was lost in a part of the city that seemed to be almost grid-like, and there were too many turnings and too many ways of getting lost and taking the wrong route. Everyone was done for, all because she had let the trail go cold.

"This isn't fair!" She screamed, absolutely frantic, now. Sweat was dampening her fur and her head was spinning. Every single turn brought more and more possible routes, none of them being right. They could be on the other side of the city by now, and she'd never know. She didn't even know the way to the shopping district, either. If there was a map, or bus route, or anything that could give a hint to where she was supposed to be going.

She decided she was going to try to go back, and start from the beginning again, and find a bus route from there, that would tell her how to hopefully get to the right place. But she was out of breath, bleary eyed, with legs so weak she could hardly stand.

She staggered over towards a side road, seemingly lost in a daze. On coming out through the other side, she found herself at a small circular plaza, not unlike the one Amy and Manimon had bumped into each other at, one time. She grew distracted from the frozen fountain, looking at the way the fading sunlight tinted and refracted from the solid, glassy surface. That's when she got her next unpleasant surprise.

Something grey and stone-like was being distorted by the crystalline fountain, which hinted at something unsettling. Slowly forcing herself around, whilst curious, she also felt nauseated from her growing anxiety, a tight knot forming in her stomach. The sight had her reeling back in shock and despair.

The statue behind the fountain was none-other than Barghestmon himself, frozen in a stance suggesting he had been in the middle of launching an attack. He must have been defending himself against Medusamon, when the gorgon had turned him to stone. Whatever tracks had been made previously in this area were long since buried under snow, with a thick blanket of the cold stuff layered over the big black dog's statue form.

If she had not come across him now, he may have gone undiscovered for who knows how long, and the thought upset her, as did the present situation facing her. When the shock had finally set in, it snowballed, causing an avalanche of fear, despair and grief to wash over her. Now, not only was she truly alone, with her friends left to an unknown fate, but her mentor was out of the game, too.

It was too much for her. After a period of sickening silence, sat staring up at him with rapidly watering eyes and quivering lip, the little white spaniel digimon burst into tears.

* * *

Medusamon's group had never fled so hard or fast for their lives before. The moment she and her trackers had laid eyes on the large paw-prints, she'd ordered them to run as fast as they could to get away from the area. The three captives had been dragged along mercilessly, almost trampled several times in the mad stampede to escape.

Nobody said a word the entire run, everyone too out of breath to be able to even speak. Medusamon kept ordering and urging her troops not to slow down or stop, for even a second. Eventually, a vast building came into view- the Imperial Palace shopping mall. Finally, everyone slowed down to a crawl once they were through the barren, snow-covered car park.

Exhausted, many digimon collapsed, straining to catch their breath after all the sprinting they'd been doing. They were sick, tired and hungry, and the entire trip had been a mess. They must have zigzagged around so many side streets after attempting to cover their tracks that it would have been confusing to anyone stumbling across the prints left in their wake after they gave up covering and took to fleeing.

Amy's chest felt like it was on fire, her face flushed red, sweat pouring down her arms and head. She could barely even think straight from the pain in her chest and legs.

"Joey... a-are you alright?" She managed to ask in a strained, airy voice. Wiping her arm across her forehead, she leaned back against the wall of the shopping center, coughing harshly.

He looked just as bad as Amy did. Sweat poured from his face, made his blonde hair stick to him in clumps. "I'm... I'm OK Amy... how about you?" He panted, his breath strained in his chest as he tried to calm his breathing down.

"I... I'm fine...," she coughed, rubbing her arms. As the cold began to hit into her again, she felt sore and achy all over. "I'm just hoping Laelapmon is alright... she was supposed to be following us, but she wouldn't have known that everyone was going to freak out over some giant foot-prints..."

Manimon hauled himself over to them and rested against Joey's legs "Laelapmon is a smart ol' girl, Amy...she'll find us eventually" He smiled warily up at his human friend, though his eyes betrayed his true thoughts. He doubted even the best tracker alive could locate them after all that, and it did little to reassure him and Amy otherwise.

"Manimon's right..." Joey agreed, taking his coat off and putting it over Amy's shoulders. "I'm sure Laelapmon will come soon enough... though it may take her some time after all the bobbing and weaving we had to endure to get here."

"What could even make tracks that size, anyway?" Amy asked worriedly, finally catching her breath, though still sounding a tad wheezy. She pulled Joey's coat a little more securely around herself, still feeling a tad light-headed.

"Ikkakumon." Medusamon answered quite suddenly, from behind them. She had recovered very quickly, from her own breathlessness, "an infected one... it's the reason we're even in this mess!"

From the tone of her voice, she was both angry and bitter from the revelation that Ikkakumon had still hounded them this far out of the digital world, lost in it's blood lust to kill. The fact that it was infected meant even more stress for the three captives.

"Being that as it may..." The blonde boy started, as calmly as he could muster "What you're doing now is putting  _innocent people_  in grave danger. Or do you not care about that?" His fists clenched thinking about all those people trapped in compact freezers of houses or apartments.

"I prioritize the safety of my crew above strange humans who would have attacked us on sight," Medusamon snarled back. She pushed Joey over onto his behind, towering over him angrily, "All that matters in life is survival, and all that matters to you are the ones you hold dear. This is true of even you humans, I'm sure! And I will do anything at all, absolutely  _anything_ , to see that me and my crew survive this mess you humans unleashed on us!"

Joey clambered back up after being shoved to the ground, glaring frustratedly up at the snake woman digimon, looking confused at what had been said to him. "What do you mean by what we humans have unleashed? What did humans ever do to your people?"

"There is a pocket dimension that was discovered, and it links straight to an egg nursery hosted on Arch Angel's server. Even if you don't know what that is, everyone in the digital world knows about Arch Angel." She snapped back icily, returning his glare from behind her blindfold, "Not even a few months after the discovery, a virus appeared and turned the entire world in on itself! A civil war began, between both the infected, and the non-infected. Anyone accused of even being a carrier, or hanging around suspected carriers got sent to Quarantined Sectors, created by the royal knights, that are a one-way trip to hell! Digimon began to board up their homes, monitor their territory so carefully that outsiders were driven away.

"When virus infected areas began to erode and decay areas they encroached on, those territories began to increase, driving neighboring areas to fight with each other for more land. Our home was one such territory, and we were driven inside, our backs to the wall, and the aggressor in all this, that Ikkakumon, just keeps coming, and it's you human's fault!"

"I'm sorry you had to go through all that hardship, but you're wrong. Arch Angel wouldn't do something so inhumane! It just doesn't make sense." Joey pointed accusingly at the snake woman "What proof do you have that Arch Angel was the one who caused such anarchy to the Digital World?"

"The Heraldic Knights are why we know as much as we do! They're the only ones left, now, trying to form an ounce of order in all the chaos that has befallen our home..." Medusamon growled back, folding her arms agitatedly across her chest. She was getting tired of these captives and their questioning, when she felt that she and her crew were the victims, and were justified in their extreme survival methods. "Their leader is the one studying the rift between servers, fishing for more information... besides, there is also  _common sense._  Where the hell else do you suppose that virus could have come from? Viruses are not  _born_ , they are  _created_. Arch Angel's server space is that link, and that is more than enough reason for me to believe they're behind all of this!"

Before any more discussion could take place, there came a loud smashing sound. The Mojyamon and Frigimon pair left in charge of shattering the build up of ice and glass on the entrance into the mall had succeeded in breaking their way in. Immediately, the other digimon that had been resting around the captive trio stood up, and grabbed ahold of their quarry, hauling them to their feet.

"I've had enough of your questioning and finger-pointing, we don't owe you any explanation..." Medusamon spat angrily, leading everyone inside. "Right! You five, there, I want you to scout about and report back with a lay of this place, specifically, some place that can serve as a prison for these three. And you two, I want you to search the captives and disarm them!"

Whilst the first five digimon she had chosen went off to get an idea of how big the place was, the other two, a SnowAgumon and a SnowGoburimon got to work confiscating the tamer's stuff. Their bags were turned inside out, the contents spilling out onto the floor. The D-Drives buzzed harshly as they clattered to the floor.

Amy and Joey attempted to dive for their D-Drives in panic, but the gorgon digimon swung her tail, forcing them to jump back again to avoid being struck down. The wicked smile on Medusamon's face made both tamers feel sick, as she reached down and pick both D-Drives up, smirking at them tormentingly.

"Yes, I know what these are. They're important to you, aren't they? They let digimon digivolve with the help of their human partners..." She commented, attempting to press the buttons, though oddly, the devices would not react to her input at all, which made her frustrated. No matter how much she pressed and clawed at the buttons, the device refused to operate for, as if it would only accept input from human hands. "Ugh! Fragile things, they're broken already?"

Amy and Joey both looked crestfallen as the snake woman tossed the supposedly dead devices back to them angrily.

"Fine, I don't care, have the damn things back! But the one thing this has proven to me is that there is another digimon out there, somewhere..." Slithering across the tiled floor smoothly, she leaned forward, so her head was near level with Amy's. "Nice try, sweetheart. Trying to trick us into thinking you were just another dead-weight to those two, there..."

Amy swallowed, her legs shaking under her. She refused to give in, the same as Joey. When they were already at the bottom of everything, where else was there to go but up? Joey reached for her hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze, just what she needed, considering what she heard next.

"You know what? I've had enough. You lot are more trouble than you're worth! Did you take us to be  _idiots_?!" the frustration and anger from everything not going Medusamon's way, with nothing going as planned bar getting to the mall had finally gotten to her, "I want whatever digimon you've left in reserves to be  _killed_  on  _sight,_  and if that Ikkakumon shows up, you three are going to be the bait!"

"That's a coward's solution, isn't it?!" Manimon yelled, struggling against the SnowGoburimon restraining him, "Throw out innocent people so you can save your own sorry skin! I know how it is, now! You could have fought for your territory, if it mattered to you THAT much, but you deserted your home, and fled like the cowards you really are!"

The rabbit was silenced by a hard, sharp smack to the face, Medusamon striking him furiously. Hissing with rage, it took everything she had to hold back on killing him there and then. Joey was beginning to struggle now, yelling at her to back off, whilst Manimon slumped in the SnowGoburimon's hold, glaring fiercely up at her, where his cheek stung and throbbed painfully.

At this moment, the scouts returned and gave Medusamon their report of the layout of the mall, including a place where the three crestfallen captives would be held for safe-keeping, until it was time to sacrifice them off.

They would be held in the basement part of the mall, where the storage, janitorial equipment and the back-up generator was held. All three were lead off helplessly in silence to await their fate in imprisonment under Medusamon's rule.

* * *

The tears Laelapmon had shed were near frozen to her cheeks. She was still sat with the statue of Barghestmon, leaning mournfully against one of his legs, staring off into space. Her eyes were so blurry, and the white and grey scenery around them both seemed to blur into nothing. Time had stood still, in this little spot in the middle of the city.

The sky was growing dark now, and only a few street lamps in the plaza even worked correctly. Shifting stiffly, Laelapmon backed away from her mentor, and regarded him one last time.

"As long as you can fight, there is always a chance of victory..." she spoke aloud, and although her voice was soft, it seemed so audible in the silent, empty square that it made her surroundings seem so much more eerie, "That's what you said, during training..."

Turning, she forced herself to look away. Even though her mentor was now immortalized in his stony form, unable to see, hear or react to her, she did not want to look at him with tears steadily welling up in her eyes once more. The faint night wind was slowly picking up, and she had to get moving before she froze to death out in this bitter wasteland that hid the city beneath it's icy grip.

"I'm... I'm going to get them back!" she called out, to no-one, her wavering voice echoing down empty, ghostly streets. "I... I can still fight.. I'm still free... I can do this."

_I can't do this..._

That one, brief flicker of doubt was enough to unleash the wave of tears that had been building up. She was too upset and consumed with guilt to allow herself even one last look at Barghestmon as she fled, her feet kicking through the snow, stumbling and sliding everywhere in a mad bid to run. She had absolutely no idea where she was running to, but she had to get away from that plaza, away from the bad feelings it gave her, the absolute hopelessness that had gripped her from the shock of Barghestmon's fate.

He would be so ashamed of her, she was sure. She already felt ashamed of herself enough for allowing darker thoughts to get to her like this. It felt like there was a war going on inside her mind and heart, wrestling with herself internally, hope versus dread, lost in the sea of uncertainty that refused to budge from the back of her mind.

The guilt surfaced again. Amy had been so positive Laelapmon would get to them. Joey and Manimon were counting on her, too. Barghestmon, Marina, Darren and their digimon were imprisoned in what may as well be rocky coffins. The young man who had turned up and needed rest, Kai, couldn't be faring much better in the chilly apartment.

The absolute enormity of the burden weighing down on her shoulders suddenly hit her like the force of an oncoming train, all of these people relying on someone as useless and weak as her to save them, and she couldn't do it. Not on her own.

Something caught her front paws and the small white pup went hurtling forward, head over heels, sending clouds of powder snow up after her, as she went crashing forward into the soft, snowy ground. Ahead, she could hear something rough and raspy, and at first, was too dazed to be able to make out the sound clearly. Had it been the wind, or... breathing?

Had she not been already as white as snow, all the colour would have visibly drained from her face as she saw ahead of her the very thing that had caused Medusamon's group to flee the scene and cover their tracks, the one whom owned the paws capable of imprinting those deep, formidable prints in the snow. Her strength deserted her, leaving her shaking harder than the cold winds had, as she cowered and recoiled in fear.

Staring back at her down the darkened road ahead, amidst wreckage of crushed cars and completely mangled street lamps, some sending out sparks from broken circuits and flickering bulbs, stood the heavily decayed and rotting form of a deeply infected Ikkakumon.

Most of the skin and fur on what had once been an impressively large walrus-like digimon looked as if it had been burned or ripped off, exposing the wire-frame beneath the body all digimon had. It was to Laelapmon as a zombie would look to a human being. Milky, pupil-less eyes stared back at her, piercingly. This thing that was now slowly hauling itself towards her, with strides even she would not be able to outrun.

But perhaps the most frightening thing was that, no matter how hard she stared into those milky-white eyes, she found no trace of intelligence, or anything that indicated sanity. No logic, no emotion, no reasoning. This thing was below even that of normal animals; a killing machine running on instinct and blood lust, that would fight even when the amount of rot and decay began to eat away at it's body, let alone flesh.

This is not how she wanted things to end. But this was it; her time had come. She was going to die in this miserable place, and everything would end. Neo Tokyo would wither and die in the casket of ice and snow encasing it, she could do nothing to save her friends. It was all over.

Laelapmon was going to die.

* * *

"Oof!"

"Hey, watch it!"

The group of ice rookie digimon shoved the three captives unceremoniously into their make-shift prison in an old storage room in the basement of the store, where the generator and janitorial things were kept. After sneering at the tamers and rabbit, the 'guards' back out of the room, closing it up, and blocking the door up with a broom through the handle to prevent them from getting out.

"As if that broom will hold that door shut with ME around..." Manimon smirked, pounding his fists together in a challenging mood, all of a sudden, "If that's the best they can do, I'll easily bust us out of here! Digivolve time, Joe?"

However, he was soon deflated by Joey's refusal to initiate digivolution. Sighing, he straightened his glasses where he and Amy had been picking themselves up off the floor.

"What good will that do? There's too many, and besides, fighting Medusamon, if we got that far, will be useless. Remember what happened to the others?" sitting on a crate nearby, Joey folded his arms. He felt down, and utterly lost. There was absolutely no way that he could see them escaping, let alone setting things right. A series of beeps caught his attention, and he looked over at Amy, who despite everything, was engrossed in her D-Drive. "What are you up to, there, Amy? Without Laelapmon, or the others, there's not much use to the D-Drive any more..."

Without looking up, the blonde student made her reply, flicking through menus and options on her D-Drive.

"I honestly can't believe you, talking like that, Joey!" She cried, in a chiding tone, "The fact we even still have our D-Drives on us is a stroke of luck, still."

Quickly hurrying to her side, she lowered her voice down, the light of hope still shining in her eyes.

"Joey... you should know how these things work better than anyone, considering  _what company_  you work for..." She whispered, still sounding almost heartbreakingly hopeful, "Isn't there a way we can send out a distress call...? Or contact the Resistance, somehow...? I don't have any other ideas, but surely there's an option for this?"

"I have no idea, actually... I've never needed to make a distress call before now, so I'm not even sure if one was put in." Joey muttered, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. He produced his own D-Drive from the safety of his inner coat pocket and opened up the main menu, "Hmm... let's see what we've got..."

The ten minutes or so was spent, in total silence, in the dark room, sifting through the menus over and over. They sat, the space around them illuminated from the rectangular screens, scrutinizing every last section of their D-Drives, when Joey suddenly announced his findings.

"I think this is it. On the map and radar screen, there's an option to 'signal'. I think we can use it to send out a distress call to the Resistance!" Joey exclaimed with renewed faith. "I only hope it reaches them... or that this even works as a distress signal..."

He watched the blue dots representing themselves flicker, sending out pulses like the beating of a heart. Just as he remembered that he was thinking negatively again, and that Amy had wanted him to think positive, he noticed the sad, distant look in her eyes, as she was staring down at Laelapmon's profile on her screen.

"Amy..." Joey murmured, resting his hand on her shoulder, inquiring about what was bothering her. He knew something wasn't right, but asked her gently all the same, "is... everything alright?"

Laelapmon's health was gradually dropping, for some reason. There was just a little over half left, with no way of checking what was the cause of this damage. Was she being attacked? By whom? Or was the freezing night air finally getting to her? There was absolutely no way to tell... and it was breaking Joey's heart to see Amy staring in absolute shock and horror, filled with panic and anxiety, as she was forced to see Laelapmon's health slowly dropping more and more.

"Laelapmon..." Amy whispered, her eyes becoming blurry with tears of guilt and fear, "w-we shouldn't have left her behind... this shouldn't be happening..."

Joey so badly wanted to tell her to have faith, to believe in Laelapmon, that it would be okay. That she hadn't known this would happen. But no words seemed to come out of his mouth, no matter how hard he wished that they would. They'd need a miracle, now.

A soft clunk behind them caught their attention, making them turn to face the source of the noise. Manimon was standing by a vent grill which he had, whilst they'd been sending for help, removing from the wall with a screwdriver from one a repair toolbox on one of the crates. Joey immediately stood up, but his partner silenced him before he could get a word in, with a stare that could have melted ice.

"I'm getting out of here, and... I'm going to find her." His voice was steely and stern, completely unshakeable in his self-imposed mission. Joey had been surprised... despite Amy's worry for Laelapmon, she had been, until this point, with a sense of hope, and Manimon was now showing a resolve, and such a strong concern and drive to protect someone other than Joey or himself. He was amazed and touched by how they had managed to hold up in these bleak and unthinkable situations.

"I'm not going to stop you... but be careful. You're our only hope, now, Manimon... but you're also my  _partner_." Joey replied, trying to keep the worry out of his voice. "Just... give this everything you've got, okay? No regrets."

"No regrets." Manimon repeated, his voice softening more. "Joey, Amy... in case anything... in case I don't make it back... I just wanted to tell you both, you've been a pleasure to work with. I've had fun, since we started all this hero stuff..."

"Manimon..." Joey murmured. Now his eyes were growing misty. "Don't say stuff like that... of course you'll be coming back, right?"

Manimon got down onto his knees, and without even a backward glance, lit up the vent shaft, his horn giving off a gentle glow.

"I gotta be off, now." the rabbit digimon lamented quietly, "see you guys... love you both. Don't forget that."

And with that, Manimon was gone, vanishing out of sight down the vent system, leaving Amy and Joey to sit in silence, wrapped in guilt and worry for their beloved partners.

* * *

The roar that sounded from the infected Ikkakumon was unlike anything Laelapmon had ever heard in her life. The grating of grinding metal, mixed with the screech of dial-up and the faint remnant of Ikkakumon's former voice, racked with agony, a primal, beastly scream.

"HAR-KSSSSHHNNN-TORPE-KSSSSHHOOOAARRR"

Ikkakumon's decaying body and voice were a garbled, glitchy mess. This truly was no digimon before her any more, but an abomination. The horn on the infected walrus's head launched haphazardly, and had this been a normal Ikkakumon, perhaps it would have hit perfectly, but each shot so far had missed, striking into a bus, then blasting a bus shelter to smithereens, and then this one leaving a crater in the icy road, but not before the resulting explosion sent Laelapmon flying backwards, slamming bodily into a car which had been over turned and sent flying previously by a swipe from her far stronger opponent.

She cried out in pain from the impact, her body giving a dangerous flicker, data particles shimmering up and down her body. She was quickly approaching the stage of deletion, and she could barely move her pain-racked body any more.

Just as she was preparing to succumb to her wounds, staring in fear and dismay as Ikkakumon readied it's last attack on her, something happened. From off to the side, she could make out a teenager, in a loose-fitting white shirt and dark shorts, barefoot, with wild hair that covered his (or even her) eyes. This had to be...

"K-Kid...?" Laelapmon croaked sorely, her voice weak and barely audible. It hurt to speak, let alone stand, but she desperately tried clawing her way towards him, "P-Please... y-you've g-got to run...!"

Ikkakumon turned it's hideously malformed head towards the stranger, and with another garbled, glitched out roar, fire off it's next Harpoon Torpedo, straight for Kid.

Time seemed to slow to a crawl as Laelapmon stared in horror, her eyes growing large in shock, as she saw the oncoming torpedo heading straight for Kid... however, she just barely felt a strange, spine-chilling energy sweep over her. What happened next was so shocking that it barely registered in Laelapmon's mind for a moment.

Hold out one hand, his palm facing outwards towards the torpedo, Kid seemed to mysteriously 'halt' the projectile, as if holding it in place. Gesturing using his hand, which was balled tightly, as though he were gripping something that wasn't there, he twisted it back to face Ikkakumon, and then seemed to release it, returning it straight back to it's sender.

Ikkakumon squealed it's glitchy, grating mess of a scream as it was hit, whilst Kid took the opportunity to rush over to Laelapmon's side. She couldn't feel him at all as he lifted her into his arms carefully, at least, not conventionally. Her body trembled, rippled and convulsed again, where her health was still critical... at least she would die in the arms of a friend. The shock and awe she had felt over Kid's mysterious power was overcome by an overpowering sense of weakness, as the world around her seemed to grow hazy.

"I'm sorry..." she apologized softly, her eyes slipping shut. "I can't hold out any more..."

Kid ran as fast as his legs could carry, the ankle deep snow not even slowing him in the slightest, glancing over his shoulder. Ikkakumon had been driven into a frenzy, cheated out of a kill it had craved, beating it's huge paws against the ground so hard the ground shuddered and thundered underfoot.

"I'm going to make you better... please hold on, just a little longer." Kid murmured, smiling down at her reassuringly. He held out his hand, his palm facing out towards the pursuing Ikkakumon once more, and Laelapmon could see, just barely, the lumbering beast smack hard into an invisible barrier, the only indication of it even being there revealed by water-like ripples and multi-coloured sparks of energy distorting across the air where Ikkakumon had crashed. It had been so sudden and unexpected that the infected monster had seemingly knocked itself out from it's own weight against the force field.

"That should take care of him, for a while..." Kid commented, as he continued running with her. Somehow, this stranger seemed to know just where he was going, carrying the little dog digimon purposefully as if on auto-pilot.

"How... is that even possible...?" Laelapmon murmured, still in disbelief, as she stared numbly back at the distant, unconscious infected champion, "How... did you do that?"

However, Kid simply smiled, without answering her questions. "Let's get some place safe, first... then I'll heal you."

Heading down a side street, they came out facing a large car park, and a huge shopping mall, easily the largest building Laelapmon had seen in this area. Kid knelt down, setting her small self down on the snow.

"I can't go any further with you, after this..." he murmured regretfully, smiling apologetically down at her, "But Manimon, and your humans, are trapped in there. They've been waiting for you..."

He placed one hand just over her forehead, and another over her chest, where her digicore was, in place of a heart. Before she had time to question what he was doing, a soft, warm glow seemed to emanate from him, travelling through his body, and passing through his hands and into hers.

The pain she had been in seemed to slowly but steadily fade until only a tingling sensation remained, and it felt so warm and soothing, it put her worries to rest. He had healed her, with this strange power of his. Whilst her health was back on top form, she was still tired, cold and hungry, but this was a vast improvement over the condition she had previously been in.

"Just... what are you?" she asked, after the light faded off, the healing process seemingly finished. He stroked her ears with a touch that seemed wispy and soft, almost non-existent.

"A friend." the teen grinned, poking his tongue out at her. "I have to go, now... I used up too much energy, back there... but before I leave, there are guards protecting the front entrance. If you go around the back, you'll find a vent you can use to get inside."

Just as he was about to stand, Laelapmon placed her paws on his knees, and stood on her hind legs so that she could meet him face to face, where she gave his nose a lick of gratitude.

"Thank you, so much... I would have died, without your help..." she told him, staring at his hair-covered face with a look of tender adoration. She had no doubt that despite the unnatural powers, that he was a good person. "Will you tell us who you are, one day?"

"When I know the answers to that, I will." Kid replied, ruffling her ears again. Standing up straight, he nodded to her, "Look after Manimon, for me... and take care."

Laelapmon watched Kid leave, heading back the way he came. When she followed to peer after him around the corner, he had already vanished off just as mysteriously as he'd appeared. After letting everything that had transpired sink in, she remembered what he'd said about the mall, and how to get inside.

Now focused on her friends, she hurried back towards the shopping center as fast as her icy legs would allow her. The time to the confrontation with Medusamon was steadily approaching, and she needed to get there for when that time came.

* * *

Sometime later, after carefully removing the vent grill using Gale Blade, working as quickly and quietly as she could to get the grill cover off of the wall, Laelapmon crawled her way into the mall. Passing through many twists and turns, Laelapmon came to another grill that overlooked a large, open seating area, surrounded by a good many restaurants and fast food eateries. After getting the next grid off using Sonic Boom, which caused the metallic grid to crash to the floor loudly, echoing through the empty hall, the small canine gingerly dropped down.

She landed smack on top of the grill, and clumsily crawled over to hide herself behind the ramp leading down into the seating area, to rest. She was so cold, hungry and exhausted, she could barely keep her eyes open, and had no idea Manimon was even close by until he spotted her.

Manimon had been crawling through vents for ages, finding places where he could ascend back up onto ground level. It was only as he'd been passing through that he'd heard the clang from the fallen grid, and after searching the area carefully, found Laelapmon's unconscious body.

"L-Laelapmon?" He murmured, lifting her up as best he could into his arms. "How did you get here so fast?"

Looking around, he found a few restaurants that had been broken into and looted, most likely by Medusamon's cronies earlier whilst everyone was still captured. Hoisting Laelapmon over his back, he carried her on his back over to one of the vandalized diners and brought her through. Meat, fish and vegetables laid scattered everywhere, and he bit his lip after setting her down, hope he could find something for her. They'd both gone without food all day and wouldn't be able to digivolve on low energy when they broke Joey and Amy out of imprisonment.

Finding a can opener in one of the drawers, he heated up some soup in the microwave, which thankfully worked due to the mall's back-up generator. Not the best way for doing things, he decided, but this was quick and convenient, especially if the goons came back for more.

The smell of tomato and basil soup seemed to rouse Laelapmon back to her senses, her nose twitching, and eyes fluttering open tiredly.

"Manimon...?" she blinked up at him in confusion. He had her head resting in his lap after he'd settled back onto the floor with the bowl of soup at the ready. He gently shushed her so that she would save what remained of her energy for drinking, and helping her hold her head up a little, fed the soup to her.

"Shhh... just relax, rest, and drink this up..." he urged, pressing a spoonful of the delicious, hot stuff past her lips. "Geez, you had us all scared..."

Laelapmon licked the spoon clean appreciatively, managing a sleepy little smile up at him. "You know... you're actually a very nice digimon, behind that fiery personality of yours... I like this side of you, very much."

The pale furred rabbit felt himself blush so strongly he was positive it was visible through his fur, which bristled up in embarrassment from her comment.

"Y-Yes, w-well..." he coughed slightly, helping himself to a quick spoonful as he alternated between feeding her and himself, "D-Due to circumstances, w-we gotta take care of each other, r-right?"

Laelapmon kept smiling, amused at having flustered him. It cheered her up immensely, seeing more of his old spark coming back to him.

"Yes, quiet." She agreed, nodding a little. After another mouthful, each sample sending jolts of warmth circulating through her, she asked, "...Were you really that worried about me, Manimon?"

He swallowed hard, almost choking on his next spoonful of soup.

"'C-'Course not! I knew you'd b-be okay... i-it's not like I was worried or anything, what gave you that idea?" He muttered dismissively, but his increasing flusteredness and embarrassment showed otherwise. After feeding her the rest of the soup, having suddenly lost his appetite, he wiped her mouth clean for her, watching her face almost bashfully. "...Was it really that obvious...? Of course I was worried... you're like, my best friend, next to Joey."

Laelapmon grinned almost knowingly, leaning up to lick his nose.

"Thank you for taking good care of me, Manimon. I'll try not to let any of you worry any more..." trying to stifle a yawn, the little dog, completely full-up, now, settled down against him. "I'm sorry... I just need to rest my eyes a moment..."

Manimon watched as she fell asleep in his arms, finally allowing himself to smile now she was on the road to recovery. He'd never been so relieved in all his life. Despite their differences and their occasional spats, the pair had grown to care for each other as much as they did their own partners.

* * *

Amy had been squeezing Joey's hand so tight she'd almost crushed it by accident. Both had been sat in one corner, wrapped up in musky old cloth and linen to keep warm, staring down at Amy's D-Drive. A miracle really had happened, and fate had spared Laelapmon, it seemed.

Her health had been restored seemingly to the max, just on the edge of the radar, and then they'd watched her icon enter the building, where eventually, Manimon's icon had bumped into her. He must have fed her, because her energy and fatigue levels were raising and lowering respectively. Hope was restored; their digimon were safe, and recovering.

Just as they were holding back on a cheer of success at the change of fate, did their second bit of luck appear.

The distress signal had been responded to. Amy recognized Sayo's name flash up on Joey's D-Drive as her having received the signal. Finally, some good was happening to them.

They were going to be rescued, and with the Resistance on hand, they stood a chance of fighting back.


	9. The Hunters and The Hunted

The sky was still grey and cloudy an hour after the four Agents were sent on their mission. It was close to midday when they had finally been sent out from the Arch Angel building. All four had been sent the emergency signal at around midnight, and had arrived at work during the blizzard before the build up had gotten as bad as it had done, and after being given their briefing and all the information the Oculusmon had gathered, had spent the remaining time prepping up for the day ahead.

Agent J, Agent B, Agent L and Agent Z - otherwise known as Jasper, Bao, Leo and Ziva  were trudging through the snow, carrying heavy bags slung over their backs and shoulders, handguns kept in holsters by their sides for their own self-defense, with longer, uniquely-built rifle-like guns, an invention of scientists at Arch Angel, created for use of a special capsule-like bullet, in a pouch just below their handguns.

These were four of the best Agents to hand, and the best of the local area; there were Agents spread out all over japan, but these were the ones deemed best suited for the job. Despite the overwhelming numbers, the four Agents had gotten consistently high marks from training, both themselves and their digimon. Now was the time to put all of that training to the  biggest test most of them had ever faced to date.

Walking alongside them were their digimon partners, whom weren’t saying much. Jasper and Ziva’s partners, Yalimon and Panthermon, were taking the lead as trackers, oddly quiet today, with the remaining two: a lilac ferret digimon with a sleek body, Minkmon, and a cream-coloured two-legged squirrel, who was the tallest of the rookies (coming just up to Leo’s shoulders), Risumon, awkwardly avoiding each other.

Everyone had mostly kept silent, but sensing Leo, the youngest and newest of the members, was still feeling uneasy, had been chatting casually for a little bit... or at least, Jasper and Bao had been. Ziva, the only female of the human four, had kept to herself.

“I’m thinkin’ we have at least fifteen minutes until we reach the area our feathered friend is at, goin’ by what Miyuki’s sent us,” Jasper commented to the group, reading a message from his D-Drive without looking up. Because of his distraction, he ended up walking clean into Ziva’s back, almost knocking her clean over.

With a soft gasp, Ziva staggered and wobbled forward, tipping over suddenly-- she reached behind for Jasper in a bid to save herself, clawing at his coat, as he hurriedly grabbed her arm to help. Pulling her around, he managed to get her upright, holding her securely against his chest, his jacket having come undone slightly from her frantic grabbing at him.

She breathed out, her hands pressed against his chest, before she seemed to take in what had happened, and caught up with herself.

“O-Oh you idiot! Watch where you’re going!” she snapped, her face flushed red from embarrassment at the close proximity between them, and even more so seeing him grinning down at her like a cheshire cat.

“You just couldn’t wait to get my coat off, could you, Zee-zee?” He smirked, amused at her reaction, which he found rather cute, considering she was usually so serious and fiery. She swatted at him, straightening herself up, hiding her face more under the faux-fur trimmed hood over her head.

"God... you're so infuriatingly embarrassing! Just have some professionalism and focus on the job, okay?!" she snapped, marching on ahead haughtily. He always seemed to know just what buttons to press to have her feeling flustered, how to get past her icy defenses. No other person dared to tease her-- but then again, not many people dared to spend much time around her, and secretly, deep inside, she liked having him around, even if his constant teasing drove her up the wall.

Jasper continued to smirk after her playfully, before he called out after her cheerfully, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively, "I can focus on something else now you're walking ahead of me, sweetie-boo!" to which he received a snowball to the face from the dark blue-haired Agent, whose face was now so red and hot he was tempted to cheekily march up and warm his hands on her cheeks, but he decided to spare her any more grief. Even the red-haired goofball knew when Ziva had clearly had enough.

“S-She’s not m-mad, is she...?” Leo’s voice sounded from just behind Jasper. He was so shy and quiet sometimes that it always came as a surprise to hear him talk, and when he did, he usually stammered and stuttered-- something he was still working on at speech therapy. “I-It’s not nice to t-tease p-people...”

Jasper grinned and dropped back a bit so he could walk level with Leo and Bao, who was being his usual, stoic self. The tall redhead ruffled his colleague’s hair affectionately in a brotherly way.

“Nah, she’s okay. I know her better than anyone, considering we’ve lived together for a few years now,” Jasper remarked in a casual tone, folding his hands behind his head, “she’s all bark and no bite, really.”

“If you say so, Jas,” Bao’s voice sounded from just behind them.

Bao unzipped the bag slung over his shoulder that had their gear and a few rations inside and produced a flask, which contained delicious and hot oxtail soup. Pouring some into the lid, which served as a cup, he handed it to Leo.

“Here, Leo, get some warmth down you,” he murmured, getting out a roll for Leo to soak up some soup with, “we’ve got a long day ahead of us. It might help with your nerves.”

The slender lilac ferret digimon trotting off to their side turned to look up at her squirrel colleague, fixing her with a sly, side-long glance.

“I forgot that this is young Leo’s first mission,” the ferret, Minkmon, commented, “Mmm-hmm-hmm... a total _virgin_ agent, with a _virgin_ digimon. I hope his stammery shyness and inexperience doesn’t slow us down...”

Risumon clenched her fists, her eyes narrowing in anger. Minkmon was a snarky, cynical and overly critical digimon, and Risumon had been dreading working with her on a big mission like this for a while now. Risumon was the “newest” of the Agent’s digimon, having worked under Arch Angel for only three years now.

On moving from America to Japan with his family for his artistic parents to draw inspiration from the eastern world, Leo had been ‘caught’ in action by the other three agents disposing of a wild digimon threatening an old folk’s home. He was offered the position on the spot due to Risumon’s talents at quickly disposing anything that came up against her, due to her and Leo protecting their area since a young age.

Despite proving themselves to their employers, with Risumon gaining certain... ‘immunities’... that would have normally befallen any other digimon caught by Arch Angel (such as owning a ‘genuine’ D-Drive born from the digital world’s power, and not Arch Angel) they were treated as a special case and gained some degree of fame in their sector.

But this had also drawn either jealousy or criticism from older and more experienced Agents, especially concerning Leo’s nervous disposition. The fact that he stuttered and stammered and trembled, uncomfortable around crowds, and became nervous around people he was not familiar engaging him in out-of-the-blue conversation had a lot of people talking behind their backs, insisting he was not cut for the job. Both Leo and Risumon were eager to disprove this... this job had gotten him away from his family, and while his parents were alright, it was his brothers that had caused numerous problems for both growing up, which made Risumon uncomfortable to remember.

Thankfully, however, outside of Minkmon, this group he had been assigned to had been accepting of him, and Bao had been an excellent mentor, always looking after Leo at work. It was just a shame he was partnered with an unpleasant and intolerable digimon such as Minkmon.

  
“I can take care of Leo just fine! You don’t need to worry about us,” Risumon replied, unable to keep the ire out of her voice. clenching her fists and making sure to put some distance between herself and the purple pest that usually pushed all the wrong buttons.

It was amazing, for all the training these two did, that they had never fought against eachother, and Minkmon, like now, took every opportunity to try to bait and goad Risumon into snapping. The ferret smirked, where it was usually so easy for her to get the desired reaction she wanted from nearly all her targets. The only time this failed seemed to be on Jasper and Yalimon, who were too laid-back and took everything in their stride, and Bao, who was above all of that.

“Ri-Risumon...?” Leo called over, looking slightly flushed to having to raise his voice from a barely audible muttering to near normal sound levels. Obediently, she hurried over, checking him over worriedly like a mother hen.

“Leo, is something wrong?” she asked, her voice and expression softening. Risumon always seemed to radiate gentleness around him, and prioritized his happiness above everything else in her life.

“N-No! I-I mean... I’m f-fine, I just... I’d f-feel guilty having s-soup, if... y-you know... w-we didn’t share...” Her tamer turned to look down at the snowy ground, feeling embarrassed over himself. “H-Here, p-please...”

Minkmon watched in silent envy as Leo offered Risumon the cup of soup, and the remaining half of the bread.

Leo’s family was rich, and lived in a huge and expensive house in the more upper-class part of the city, and so he and Risumon had never gone without, and even though they now lived alone in a small apartment, they still had lived a generally comfortable life, in Minkmon’s eyes.

Meanwhile, Bao had come from a family struggling to make ends meet running a martial arts dojo in a less-savoury part of town, and it wasn’t until Bao’s mother had made it big as a rising film star for martial arts-based movies did business really began booming; everyone wanted to study at the place where his mother had practised her skills.

But before this, things had been such a struggle, the small family had been clawing to hold onto the edge and had nearly been forced to sell up several times. Until his mother’s success, they had been inching around the poverty line. Bao’s room had been barren, and his two younger brothers shared their room with him in the cramped apartment space above the dojo, which comprised simply of the family’s two bedrooms, an office, a small bathroom with a toilet and shower, and an open kitchen and living room. Minkmon had still remembered the times they’d been unable to pay for the heating bills and slept in the cold, huddled together.

It had been one of the harshest winters the year Bao had found her on the way back from school, where she had been in her smallest form, Furomon. He’d found her down some alley, lost, frightened, and shivering with cold, and had taken her in, a secret only he and his brothers had ever known about, where his parents had always believed her to be a toy Bao had found, and hadn’t suspected a thing. They rarely got toys, anyway.

He’d worked all his life to get them to where they were now, but his ambitions were not in fighting digimon his whole life, but to open a restaurant. He loved cooking, and coming from a home that did not have a lot of food to live on, perhaps inwardly hoped that in doing so, could do the thing he loved as well as spoil his brothers with food that wasn’t cheap, crappy convenience-store trash, as Minkmon had always put it. It was all thanks to her own skills at fighting that they too had been noticed by Jasper and Ziva, and Bao was quickly moved into a much better home and they had gained things they had gone without for most of their lives, and in turn had gone on to recruit Leo, whom Minkmon inwardly felt ‘owed’ her and Bao for being the ones to get him the position he was working under in the first place.

But this, as well as the stark contrast between her life and Risumon’s had placed a firm wedge between the two that had only increased over time, with neither one making an effort to behave even if their tamers were close friends, with Bao spending a lot of his time hanging out with Leo and helping with their side of the training.

Minkmon turned to look at Bao out the corner of her eyes. Now it was her turn to feel frustrated. She knew he was waiting for her to ask him for food, too, or that he was holding back on offering her some edibles on purpose, because she had deemed asking for things as being ‘beneath her’.  
Minkmon was, in her mind, after growing up with Bao with hardly anything to their names, entitled to anything she desired, and whatever she wanted, she took. The ‘ferret property law’ seemed almost ingrained into her greed-filled head. Whatever she set her paws upon was ‘hers’ by right, or so she had always believed.

Bao smiled at her, returning the sidelong glance down at her, knowingly. She scurried over and clambered up his body to perch across the back of his shoulders, her tail loosely slung around his neck like a living scarf. Whilst he sometimes wished she would behave more, he loved spoiling her, now he could afford to do so.

“If you want something, all you have to do is ask,” he told her, as he reached for some more bread rolls. Offering one to her, she begrudgingly accepted it, avoiding eye contact. She was too ‘above’ asking, and voraciously tore at the bread in silence.

“You know that whatever I want, I take, dearest Bao...” she muttered breathlessly after finishing gulping down the roll. She rolled her eyes on catching him smiling at her again, “but I’ll keep that in mind.”

“You guys better take it easy on your eatin’ back there,” Jasper called from ahead, “we’ll be doin’ a lot of our usual duckin’ and weavin’ when we catch up to the bird.”

“And going by the tracker, he’s called in reinforcements,” Ziva added, now taking her own turn to keep tabs on their target’s activity, “and it looks like they’ve set-up a barricade. They know we’re coming.”

Yalimon looked over to Panthermon and nodded, a gesture which she understood and returned. Keeping her voice low, she whispered to him, “Don’t forget, we have our own agenda today...” **  
**

* * *

  
  
On the other side of where Sastrugamon and his forces were holding out, the Resistance were also on the move.  
  
“So it looks like we’re operating at about 50%,” Skyler spoke up, hoisting his own bag up more. “So... remind me, why aren’t Sayo and Neon with us?”   
  
Everyone present were still suffering from stiff, aching joints, from having been sleeping in the damp, dank and impossibly dark rooms of their ‘homes’ in the ‘underworld’, and it had been as cold underneath the city as it was to walk through it. None of the long trip walking up here had eased any of the stiffness.  
  
“Sayo’s helping mom this morning,” Seth replied, checking his own D-Drive for any updates on their target. “Since the snow began, a lot of the older people have been really feeling the cold, and a few of ‘em are already really ill... Sayo’s first-aid experience is gonna help take some of the stress off the nurses, so she’s seeing to a few minor cases then she’ll be coming up. And Neon is waiting by in order to make sure she’s not on her own when she comes up.”  
  
Skye grinned at her brother after handing Clefmon a tissue after the pink songbird sneezed several times from the cold.  
  
“Are you sure it’s not just because you’re worried about her?” she asked, giving him a playful prod in the arm.  
  
Seth shot her a glare, feeling his face redden slightly. He knew exactly what she was hinting at .  
  
“Look, I have faith in Sayo, it’s just... that damn Tanukimon... I can’t trust Tanukimon to take this seriously! She’ll probably get herself drunk before they even hit the surface, and then who will look after her? That’s why I sent Neon back. If I sent you, you’ll just gossip to her behind our backs, and if I sent Skyler... if I sent Skyler, then...”  
  
“Hey! I wouldn’t hit on Sayo!” Skyler replied in a mock-hurt tone. “Dude, don’t worry, I get it. She’s off-limits. I wouldn’t try wooing another guy’s girl.”  
  
‘The two skies’ both began smirking and sniggering away over Seth’s increasingly irate and embarrassed expression, and got ready to dodge incase he tried grappling them to the ground in anger.  
  
“For god’s sake, it’s not like that! She’s... you know she hasn’t had as much experience doing this as us, and that sort of stuff might make her uncomfortable! I’m just trying to be a good leader, that’s all... how Zeke would have wanted things.”   
  
There came an awkward silence at the mention of Zeke. He’d been missing for so long, and nobody that had been in the team when he was present had quite come to terms with his disappearance. Neon and Sayo had not been members during Zeke’s time as the leader, and hadn’t known much about him; the remaining three members did not like talking about him much in front of them. It hurt too much.  
  
Eventually, Clefmon broke the silence.  
  
“Heehee... you know, you say it might make Sayo uncomfortable, but she so wouldn’t mind it coming from you, Seth~!”   
  
Cadmemon seemed slightly uncomfortable at this teasing, though Seth didn’t have enough time to try processing this information before the trio’s D-Drives gave off a specific warning beep. SysOpmon had modified their D-Drives a number of times to do things the devices were normally not capable of. One such adjustment was to be able to give a warning signal when Agents were close by, and they’d made good use of it the second they had broke into the database long enough to glean several profiles of the Agents and their D-Drive details.  
  
“Well, well, well. Look who’s turned up to the party,” Skyler commented, an impish grin across his face that could rival even the cheshire cat’s. “If it ain’t our old pals, Agent Z, Agent J, Agent B and Agent L.”  
  
“Also known as Ziva, Jasper, Bao and Leo,” Cadmemon called up from behind. The digimon hadn’t spoken much, where they’d been gearing themselves for the inevitable fighting that lay ahead of them.  
  
“So, oh great and powerful leader,” Skye called to her brother, cracking her knuckles, “what do you suggest we do now that this problem has developed?”  
  
Seth was already ready with the answer to her question straight away, with perhaps their only option.  
  
“We stick with the plan-- only Chasemon is our sole spokesman now. Skyler, digivolve Chasemon and have Stratosmon get up to the tower on the construction site. Convince those digimon to come with us. We’ll try to distract the Agents and stop them from interfering or killing any more digimon,” he replied, patting his sister’s shoulder. “Looks like it’s just us now. Are you ready?”  
  
Nodding in confirmation, his sister turned to look down at her very pink partner, “As ready as we’ll ever be, right, Clefmon?”   
  
“Right!” her partner chirped, clasping her claws together. She easily had the most optimism out of all three digimon present, out of which Cadmemon seemed to be anticipating a rough time ahead, and Chasemon, as always, had an air of submissive acceptance about him.  
  
“Skyler? I’m ready to go.” the purple gargoyle-like digimon announced, giving a little stretch, his winged arms held above his head as her prepared to digivolve.  
“Alright. You be careful out there, those guys have a flying digimon, too,” Skyler advised, as he initiated Chasemon’s digivolution, Seth and Skye digivolving their partners in readiness as well.  
  
“Chasemon, digivolve to...!”  
  
“Clefmon, digivolve to~!”  
  
“Cadmemon, digivolve to...!!”  
  
Sparks of electricity crackled over the glowing forms of the three rookies as their bodies began to grow and change shape. The layers of skin peeled and burnt away, revealing the glowing wire frames beneath.   
  
Chasemon became more wyvern-like, losing his hands as his arms transformed into true wings capable of flight. His feet became impressive talons, with a long curving tail that could smash anything it struck to pieces.   
  
Beside him, Clefmon was undergoing her own changes. Her body began to grow taller. Her legs and arms becoming more athletic and black clothes forming over her. Mirrored wings grew from her back that sparkled like a disco ball and a feathered trim grew along her forearms.  
  
Cadmemon’s own transformation had her body maturing into an adult fox, no longer a chubby fox cub. Her body became longer and more slender, with both of her tails splitting again to now form into four, and her face become narrow and pointier, with her ears long and flowing.   
  
“Stratosmon!”  
  
“Melmon~!”  
  
“Nogitsumon!”  
  
The three champions stood before their tamers, sparks still crackling over their bodies as the effects of digivolution settled. The snow had melted down around them from the bright changes they had undergone, and now everyone was ready to get started.  


  
“Skyler, I’m headin’ out. Keep an eye out fer them Agents and their digimon.” Stratosmon called down in his newer, much deeper voice. “I’ll do my best t’get the bird an’ his forces out.”

And with that, the purple wyvern took off, followed closely by the Resistance as they approached from behind the barricade.

* * *

Streams of data went shooting up into the sky like pillars of light, the sound of whooshing flames drowning out the screams of dying digimon, as the barricade set up against the Agents melted and broke apart from Alphynmon’s attack, the searing flames so hot that the SnowGoburimon and Mojyamon trying desperately to hold the defense began to burn up from the intense heat, forcing those that did not die in the wall of flame far back up the formerly closed-off street.

“Exalted Flame!” Alphynmon sounded over the roar of the fire he’d created, adding even more fuel to an already big flame. The Agents were at his back, having already digivolved their own digimon to their champion stages.

“Oh please, Alphynmon sweetie, take your time! We have all afternoon to do this, it’s not like we have places to be or things to do,” Martemon, who had formerly been Minkmon, commented over the crackle flame spreading across the remains of the barricade that had been built up.

Alphynmon tickled the giant ferret’s nose tormentingly, grinning away. He took any of her jabs in good humour. “You be careful you’re not the next target on my grilling list, missy.”

“I’ve been keeping tabs on the enemy count; the numbers dropped from 15 down to 8. We’ve almost got these pawns out of the way, and then on to checkmate against the King,” Ziva commented after checking her D-Drive.

“I’m fairly sure that’s not how chess works.” Jasper smirked, which earned him a light punch in the arm from an irate looking Ziva.

“Some professionalism, if you please,” Bao chimed in, coughing politely. “The survivors fled and are freezing themselves into that tower up ahead.”

Beyond where the barricade had been set up, a vast tower that had been in the middle of construction was ahead. Sastrugamon was most certainly roosting at the top, due to the fact every inch of the construction site and every vehicle parked there was encased in thick ice, likely to reinforce it against unwanted intruders such as themselves. The last of the surviving band of rogue digimon could be seen in the distance, hurriedly building up as much ice as possible to keep their foes shut out.

“Oooooh, idea~! What if we detonate the tower?!” Jasper asked, rubbing his hands together excitedly... which earned him a slightly harder punch from Ziva this time.

“What the hell do you take us for, the Acme Corporation?! What do you think will happen if we blow the tower up? It could come collapsing down on the surrounding buildings, which may very well have people holed up inside due to the home security systems!” she snapped, berating the redhead for all his worth. Jasper simply grinned and shielded his face from her constant swiping at him.

“Aww, Zee-zee, you have a heart after all!” he chuckled, dodging a smack aimed for the side of his head as his partner huffed in aggravation.  
At that moment, Ratatoskmon, Risumon’s champion form, felt a change in the flow of the wind, as something up above disturbed the breeze, something that, as a wind-based digimon, she felt very easily.

“Leo, I think there’s something else up there...” She said, keeping her voice low. Immediately, everyone present chose to look up at the sky in curiosity.

Aside from puffy clouds full of even more snow, there was nothing at all above. Ratatoskmon was still tense, however, and her long pointed ears were trained on the skies, listening out for the source of the disturbance. And then, she caught sight of it.

A vast shadow passed them over, with light refracting over the surface of something that was trying to cloak itself in some form of invisibility flying above them. Without even waiting for anyone’s permission to investigate, she shot off up into the sky, unfurling the loose skin membranes connected to her arms and legs that gave her the ability to soar, something that normal, real flying squirrels would never be able to achieve.

She almost found herself smacking into the underside of the whatever-it-was, and the impact of their collision shocked the invisible being into exposing itself.

“You again--!” the flying squirrel gasped, as Stratosmon regained his composure after being knocked slightly off course.

“So, we meet again, squirrel-girl” the wyvern digimon replied nonchalantly in his gruff, deep tone. “If you don’t get outta my way in three, I’mma blast yer squirrelly hide out of the sky!”

“Why don’t you take your own advice and get lost? It’s important we dispose of the snowbird quickly!” She fired back, floating in place in the sky. All at once, it was as if the wind had died around the two airborne titans.

“You even try layin’ a claw on that digimon an’ I’ll dispose of you twice as quick, don’t you worry yer pretty liddle head!”

Both the wyvern and flying squirrel digimon stared each-other down, as they began to circle around, preparing for battle, but their preparations were hastily cut short. A gunshot from below sounded, as a bullet grazed past Stratosmon’s cheek, leaving a bloodied cut across his face.

His sharp eyes missed nothing; there was the shooter, down below. Leo raised his rifle again, taking aim at the purple dragon-like digimon antagonizing his partner, the fire burning in his eyes showing his determination. Unless Stratosmon got a move on, the next shot wouldn’t miss.

Stratosmon narrowed his eyes at Ratatoskmon. The mission had been compromised on both ends, now that each team was on the scene and focused on the same target. He would have to get them, especially the dark-haired sniper aiming for him, off his back.

“So, yer humans are fightin’ yer battles fer you, eh?” he growled, his cheek stinging from the bullet graze, “It’d be rude of me not to return th’ gesture!”

Almost immediately, the giant wyvern began to descend straight down, diving straight down at the four agents and the ground-based digimon by their sides. Leo took aim and fired again, as Stratosmon’s body began to coat itself in liquid metal. He tucked in his wings, now a living bullet of gigantic proportions, the bullet ricocheting off the wyvern’s body of steel.

“Aero Bullet!!”

As the other Agents began to run for cover, with their digimon preparing to engage, Leo held fast, hurriedly switching to his handgun now Stratosmon was growing too close to aim with the rifle. All five shots fired were deflected from the descending digimon, not even leaving a single mark. At this point, it was too late for Leo to run away, and he dived to one side, covering his head with his hands.

Stratosmon may have hit him, had his partner not have dived down after him, the scream of rage tearing from her throat snapping everything into action all at once. Flinging herself at Stratosmon, she clung to his metallic-coated form, trying to change his course, but it was like wrestling with a missile: dangerous and impossible.

He spun, performing barrell rolls and tail spins as he went, trying to force her off. She held tight, her arms and legs wrapped around him as he continued his high-speed flight. Drawing them both in, he rammed her into the side of a chain of empty offices, shattering through the windows as he dragged and scraped her painfully across the sides of the buildings they passed, still trying to force her off. The Agents and their digimon could barely keep up with what was happening, as Stratosmon drove them both through one side of another empty office complex and out of the other side, the shattered glass and bricks raining down from above, causing everyone to keep shifting positions to find new cover.

“Ratatoskmon!!” Leo screamed, looking panic-stricken. When he caught sight of her again, her back had been sliced in several places from the broken glass and debris, and she seemed like she was barely keeping consciousness.

“Don’t worry, I’ll get that bastard!” Bao cried, getting out the special capsule gun that Arch Angel had been developing. Producing one of the capsule shells, which was completely spherical and seemed to glow an eerie light, he loaded it into the gun and took aim.

“Ratatoskmon! Let go!” Leo urged, yelling hoarsely, his expression full of worry as he felt anxiety gnawing away at the back of his mind.

Ratatoskmon’s vision was blurry, and her head was pounding and aching, but she heard enough to register Leo’s command, and released Stratosmon from her grip, spreading out her arms and legs as her skin membranes filled with air, allowing her to parachute down from the sky, where Leo ran out to her to keep her covered.

Stratosmon turned, confused, where he hadn’t heard the order, and had no idea what was going to happen. A loud noise, like an electrical discharge sounded out, as something smashed hard into his chest. The black capsule burst open, sending several electrical pulses over his body, a cloud of pale pink powder erupting from the center and engulfing most of his chest and face. His left eye stung, and his flesh felt like it was on fire.

Roaring in agony, he began to fall from the sky, swerving down towards the construction site. He could just make out Skyler below, yelling at him to hold on as he ran after his descending partner.

With the sky battle finished and the initial shock over the events having settled in, the Agents began to regroup, now aware the Resistance were on hand.

“God damn it! It’s those damn kids again!” Ziva snarled from where she and Jasper had been taking cover behind some iced cars. Panteramon was lurking dutifully by Ziva’s side, awaiting further order.

“Risumon is in bad shape,” Alphynmon commented, watching Bao and Martemon escorting Leo over. Leo was shaking all over, his eyes red and sore and wet with tears, holding Risumon’s body in his arms.

“We’re cut down to three,” Bao said, confirming the Agents worries. Leo hurried past to get Risumon behind more cover. “We don’t have enough power in the E-MediPack to get her back to full health, or support four major injuries if the rest of our digimon get wiped out...”

“P-Please, I just need to borrow a little bit, t-to make her stable...” Leo begged, staring at Ziva pleadingly. She was the unofficial leader of their group, and she was usually impossible to argue with, let alone appeal to. Already, she looked ready to reject his plea, before Alphynmon interrupted.

“Ziva, Jasper... if Risumon can get me up the tower, I can try getting him out. Just let me try, I’m strong enough to hold my ground against Sastrugamon.” Alphynmon exclaimed quietly. “Please, there is something I want to try.”

Now it was Jasper’s turn to give Ziva a pleading look. “I have faith in him. He’s a stubborn old git, he won’t get us in any more trouble, Ziva. You know him as well as I do.”

Ziva bit her lip, in two minds over their situation. Could they be affording to take risks like this with Risumon just barely clinging to consciousness ? No, probably not; but at the same time, she could just see it now: all four of them getting inside the tower, and being sandwiched between Sastrugamon and the Resistance.

“Fine. But be damn quick about it, we don’t know how many of those stupid kids are on hand, nor what condition our target is in-- and remember, they want him brought back alive!”

Leo sighed with relief as he rummage through their packs for a medium-sized device that came in it’s own bag, a smaller scale version of the medical machines they had back at Arch Angel. Where as a D-Drive’s auto-healer function was fairly slow and took a long time to become effective, the E-MediPack could administer health instantly at various dosages. It was fairly heavy

“Use a quarter and no more than that! We have to make the energy last between the four of us.” Ziva reminded him snappily as he hooked Risumon up to it. Healing waves spread over her battered body, as her wounds began to close up and repair themselves. In no time at all, she was back on her feet.

“Leo... I’m sorry... that was so stupid of me, but when I saw him diving for you, I had to get him away...” Risumon apologized, looking ashamed of herself. She could feel Martemon’s eyes on her in particular, and felt as if she had let down everyone else as well as Leo.

“Don’t be sorry, R-Risumon... I s-should’ve ran when I h-had the chance, but I w-was trying to get a good shot on him, a-and... o-oh” Leo sniffed, holding her in against his chest, “I w-won’t be so stupid again... You’re my s-special girl, y-you know that?”

Ruffling her ears gently, he put forth one more request; “D-Do you think you’re up to one more mission, just a little bit longer...?”

Risumon bit her lip, unsure of herself after her beating at Stratosmon’s hands. She doubted she was up to par for this type of work, considering their very first mission had already gone awry.

“Oh for goodness sake...” Martemon sighed, rolling her eyes, “Cheer up, emo girl! We’re in a team, remember? You can’t take all the action for yourself, you know. Let me and Panteramon deal with those script-kiddies and you get your ass up to that tower with our esteemed hero, alright?”

Risumon managed a small smile, as Alphynmon de-digivolved back to Yalimon. Wrapping her arms around him, she held him up, where he was humorously shorter than her, something Martemon had often teased them about.

“Right, then, we’ve got to get moving and put those brats in their places.” Ziva voiced aloud, getting to her feet.

Hurriedly taking account of their ammunition and other supplies, Jasper and Leo set off to keep their partners covered, whilst the remaining pair and their digimon began to make their way up the street, darting from cover to cover as they went, keeping an eye out for the Resistance members.

* * *

  
  
Stratosmon had crashed on the opposite side of the construction site. Smoke was rising from off of his singed and burnt body, where the strange powder had been eating away at his skin. Blotches of silver were slowly spreading over the surface of his skin, and any of the yellow markings that covered his body it touched steadily began to turn teal green, filtering out to yellow around the edges, along with his left eye, which the powder had sprayed over, was now a bright teal green, making his eyes mis-matched and oddly coloured.  
  
Skyler was kneeling beside him, breathless from his mad dash to catch up with his partner, his eyes wide in fear at what was happening to him, his partner and closest friend whom he had known for ten years of his life, was experiencing pain unlike he had ever felt, in a condition that none of the others had seen before in their lives.  
  
“W-What’s happening to him?” Skyler asked, his voice sounding strained, unable to take his eyes off of the twitching and spasming wyvern. “Wh-What did they DO to him, Seth?!”  
  
“I... I don’t know...” Seth muttered, staring down at the agonized dragon nervously. He could feel a knot forming in his gut, and the sight alone was making him feel uneasy. Nogitsumon gently nudged Stratosmon’s chin.  
  
“Stratosmon... hang in there...” she murmured encouragingly, trying to keep herself calm. It looked like some awful, flesh-eating disease had gotten ahold of him, and was trying to eat away at him... just seeing it slowly spreading made her feel ill.  
  
“I don’t think he’ll die from this, whatever it was they used on him...” Seth commented, studying the wounds. Skyler had become tense and agitated from nerves beside him.  
  
“Oh yeah? Then what DO you think, oh great and mighty leader!?” the mousy-blonde yelled, getting to his feet. Seth was taken aback by his tone, as the goggle-head grabbed ahold of his shirt, glaring into his eyes, “‘We stick to the plan’ you said! Look what it’s cost us!! How the hell do you know for sure he’s not dying?!”  
  
Skye, who had kept quiet during the whole incident, moved to pry Skyler off of her brother.  


  
“Skyler! What the hell has gotten into you?! Seth didn’t know this was going to happen, none of us did!” She was trying so hard to hold back from sounding angry, but the stress of the situation was making this near impossible. “Come on, for god’s sake, he’s only human! It’s NOT his fault this happened, okay?!”

“Maybe if he’d called in some god-damned backup then it wouldn’t be us being put through hell and back each and every time!” Skyler snarled, his fists clenched in anger. His eyes were burning with such ferocity and were so watery from pent up tears that Skye was forced to look away.

“LOOK, Skyler!” Seth growled, pulling Skyler back away from his sister, “I get it-- you’re upset. I get it, okay?! If it were Nogitsumon in that state, I’d be angry too! But none of us anticipated this. We were prepared for their usual guns, not this crazy electrical-powder shit! But that is no excuse to just give up on him!”

“I-I’m not giving up on him...” Skyler recoiled back, quivering in anger and grief, where Seth’s words at the end had felt like a stab directly into his heart.

“Yes, you are! You’re allowing yourself to believe he’s really hurt. And he is, but his life isn’t over!” Seth continued, his eyes fixed on those of his best friend’s, “If he was dying, you’d know about it. Your D-Drive would be going nuts, right? He’d have data pouring up from him. But he’s not in that state... I don’t know what the hell is with this colour change bullshit but he is NOT DYING, okay?!”

Skyler sniffed and finally broke eye contact with Seth, looking down at the ground.

“He’s always been by my side... I just don’t want to imagine a world where he’s not in it, with me...” he sighed, kneeling beside his wounded digimon partner. He placed a hand on Stratosmon’s head, trying to comfort him, wishing he could ease off the pain pulsating through his partner’s body.

“I know that... and I know it’s unfair I have to keep putting you all through this mess each and every time... if we had time to gather all the other resistance groups, you know I’d have called them over...” Seth sighed, patting Skyler’s shoulder, “But by time all of us regroup, it would be too late... they’re probably monitoring their own areas, as we speak, or caring for their own sick and frail... but it takes several days worth of travel just to get from one area to the next on foot, even if you’re travelling via digimon... so that’s why we have to do these things ourselves when it’s in our territory, okay?”

Skyler did not reply, but nodded to show he understood. He continued to stroke Stratosmon’s chin, before Melmon made a quick report.

“Sorry to interrupt, but... The Agents are on the move. That squirrel and the purple lion-wolf thingy are heading towards the tower!”

This news immediately set everyone on edge. Risumon and Yalimon were visible in the distance, two blots of colour approaching fast towards the ice-encased under construction tower block.

“Damn it...” Seth hissed under his breath, “well, so much for the big fight we were going to have... but we can’t risk it, not like this. Stratosmon is in no shape to defend himself, and they easily outnumber us...”

“As well as having a damn gun advantage...” Skyler muttered bitterly, as he started to digitize Stratosmon back into his D-Drive. “Ugh... is this thing short-circuiting? I-It’s freaking out!”

Staring down at his D-Drive, Skyler stared anxiously at Stratosmon’s stats screen, which was glitching up and freaking out, and his partner’s health entering recovery mode did little to reassure him.

“We don’t have time to worry about this now, but it’ll be more safe inside there for him than out in the open,” Seth murmured worriedly. “We’re gonna have to cut a retreat for now... we’ll get you to an underground access point, and then get him back to SysOpsmon, okay?”

The very idea of retreat left a bitter taste in their mouths. It was very rarely that they ever outright lost to the Agents, usually only doing hit-and-run tactics on them and picking them off with ambushing, but in this environment and with the Agents equipped with strange guns that they’d never encountered before today, the outlook was grim.

With all three humans seated on Nogitsumon’s back with Melmon taking the lead to track on ahead, the Resistance vanished off down a street, heading towards the nearest Underground Access Tunnel.

* * *

Risumon was beginning to lose altitude as her fatigue caught up on her. The health boost from the E-MediPack was beginning to fade, and her grip on Yalimon was weak, and whilst he was being eaten up inside with guilt at pushing her in this condition, this had been just the opportunity he and Panthermon had been waiting for all day.

“Yalimon, I don’t think... I can go any further...” she sighed tiredly, her body aching from exhaustion, which soon had Yalimon called out of his thoughts. “We’ll fall, at this rate...”

“Just a lil further, that’s all,” Yalimon urged gently, eager to hurry up to the top of the frozen tower “D’You think you can throw me towards that opening on the seventh floor?”

“B-But what if you don’t make it...?” she gasped, her tired eyes fluttering open, the task her wild-maned companion had asked of her shocking her awake. “This is crazy enough as it is, trying to take him on alone...! I think we should head back...”

“Don’t you worry none about me, sweetheart,” Yalimon grinned, giving her hand a soft squeeze, “I’ll be alright. You’ll see. When you drop me off, have a nice ol’ rest below and I’ll meet you when I’m done.”

Risumon was skeptical, but was too tired to argue with him. She managed to hold out enough to get him as far as giving him a grip on the edge of one of the open floors, which had no windows installed, and had not been walled up with ice.

Yalimon saw her off, watching the squirrel’s descent downwards, where she landed near some concrete pipes which had avoided been frozen solid, crawling inside to hide herself and rest until the Agents caught up. Bracing himself, he prepared to for a risky encounter with Sastrugamon, a sense of urgency washing over the normally calm and laid-back combat digimon.

Before he even had a chance to turn around, he could feel makeshift spears and polearms pressing into his back.

“Hahah! We saw you coming, Purple! You’re coming with us!”

* * *

"Who's this fiend you've brought in, lads?!"  
  
Yalimon had been brought up several more flights of stairs until he was unceremoniously shoved into the main floor, which lacked a proper roof, but had an arching dome of ice above them that had been quickly installed by Sastrugamon to act as a make-shift cover that allowed him to fit inside the building, where the lower floors were too narrow for him to fit.  


"Is that anyway to treat an old friend, Sassy?" Yalimon grinned, rubbing his arms warm from the freezing room.  
  
Sastrugamon was taken aback by his visitor, and held off from otherwise chewing Yalimon out.  
  
“You... you look awfully familiar...” the great white bird voiced aloud, studying Yalimon carefully. This strange digimon held a familiar, digital world-like vibe, but also the scent of humans on him... and something more. Something he couldn’t quite place.  
  
“I should do. We’ve met before, in the digital world,” Yalimon commented in a casual, off-hand manner. “Only things are different now.”  
  
It dawned on Sastrugamon just who was standing before him, and his eyes widened with surprise, his feathers ruffling up.

  
“You! B-But... they said you were dead!” he gasped, stepping in a bit closer, lowering his head to study his esteemed guest further. “How could you possibly be alive?! And why are my men telling me you arrived with people from Arch Angel, and that you wiped some of my forces out?!”

Yalimon bowed his head apologetically.  
“I’m sorry fer those who died t’ me earlier, but I wasn’t in a position to go against my human’s orders...” he began, before the fierce snow bird reared up and spread his wings wide.

“You come to make an enemy of us, on this day?! Our darkest hour, and you turn traitor on us?! Never did I expect you, one of the most esteemed warriors in our region, to--”

Yalimon immediately cut him off, his face grim and serious.

“I had no choice, friend. You’ve got to b’lieve me, if I had any other options available I woulda taken ‘em...” he paused, shaking his head sadly. “We all swore on the oath, we’d do what we could, for the sake of the digital world. Even if it means masquerading under the enemy’s lines...”

Sastrugamon still looked irate over this development between his situation and that of a former allies.

“Excuse us. I want this conversation to be between us, and us alone,” Sastrugamon announced to his crew, without a second glance. Bowing, the SnowGoburimon almost seemed to stumble over themselves to back out of the room. “Now... can you explain more?”

“There ain’t much more time... the rest of the Agents’ll be here soon enough. While you’ve got time, you should head back to yer wife--”

“M-My Lady Medusamon i-is n-not my--!!” Sastrugamon spluttered, though Yalimon didn’t seem to hear, and kept going.

“--and get her to a safer place... some kids, they call themselves the Resistance, your best shot at survivin’ this mess is to get with them, and get underground, and let the snow thaw... they’ll have a place fer you there, but I can’t say the same if you let the Agents get you, and if my human orders me to fight, I’m gonna hafta do as he commands...”

Sastrugamon’s face creased with frustration, and he opened his beak to argue, before Yalimon intercepted again.

“I’m sorry... but this is the best I can offer... I ain’t in a position where I can do much else. If I blow my cover, we could screw out the only shot we have at fixing the problems back home... you’ve got the opportunity to get outta here, an’ I’m givin’ it to you.” The small thick-furred digimon sighed, folding his arms, “...I’m sorry, really.”

“I... understand. How cruel, that fate has us placed on opposite sides... but I will take it... this opportunity you’ve given me. I accept.”

Turning to face the door, Sastrugamon crowed, summoning in the remainders of his work force. Explaining the situation, the eight survivors listened in silence as their leader filled them in. Yalimon and Sastrugamon that briefly made a plan to stage a fake ‘battle’ between the Mojyamon and Yalimon, to allow Sastrugamon ample time to get himself and the SnowGoburimon to safety, and relay the news to Medusamon.

“I’m sorry... but to you Mojyamon, it is impossible for me to carry you...” Sastrugamon murmured remorsefully, having had the four remaining SnowGoburimon climb onto his back. “I... must leave you here.”

The four remaining Mojyamon bowed, shaking their bushy heads. “We understand. We’ll die with honour, sir, for the sake of our friends!”

Yalimon nodded in sympathetic understanding, and joined over with the four of the bear-like beasts, as the group made their last farewells.

“It was an honour working with you, sir. We hope Yggdrasil smiles on you and Lady Medusamon to get the others to safety,” one of the big bear-like digimon spoke, voicing the thoughts of all four, as each of them gave a hearty salute.

“I’ve never known more braver, honest Mojyamon as you. You four have been by my side since we entered this infernal place... You’ll be remembered,” Sastrugamon murmured back, bowing back to them. The SnowGoburimon on his back were glassy-eyed at the finality of leaving the Mojyamon to their fates with the Agents. “For our future!”

The four Mojyamon returned the wish, in chorus: “For our future!”

Sastrugamon turned and spread his wings, his four passengers holding tight as he blasted the ice dome above them apart into a glittering cascade of ice shards and took off, flying off in the direction of Medusamon’s makeshift hold-out.

Yalimon and the Mojyamon headed down to the bottom floor to put their staged fight in action, all the whilst Yalimon had a feeling of worry growing in the pit of his stomach.

He was playing a dangerous game, here.

* * *

  
The four Agents arrived just in time to witness Yalimon getting beaten down by four puffed up Mojyamon near the door-way, Risumon watching helplessly from the sidelines.  
“L-Leo! E-Everyone!!” She cried, staggering and stumbling over herself to get to them, where she collapsed into Leo’s arms.

“Shit...” Jasper cursed, sucking in breath as his face flared in anger. “Bao! Can you help him?”

“On it. Martemon? You’re up!” Bao called, as Martemon rushed past, unravelling the chain of beads wound around her tail, holding one end in her mouth.

“Bead Whipping!” the giant pine marten champion yowled, as she skillfully struck each Mojyamon with lightning speed and frightening precision, her lashes moving so fast that the whirr of the flailing bead whip was impossible to follow, too fast for the human eye.

The beads burst and crackled loudly like gunshots, beating each Mojyamon violently, until one by one, they burst apart in crimson clouds of data, which she hurriedly loaded into herself.

“Free power doesn’t come cheap...” she breathed, standing over Yalimon after it was all over. She nudged him with her large paw when he failed to acknowledge her. “Well... he seems okay, no real harm done, darlings.”

The group had almost forgotten about Sastugamon in the rush to save Yalimon, but Ziva had not. Scanning the skies, she caught sight of him flying for freedom, four SnowGoburimon piled onto his back.

“Dammit!” Ziva spat angrily, staring up darkly into the sky at Sastrugamon’s retreating form, “The target is getting away! I KNEW letting that furball go in alone was a terrible idea!”

Jasper rushed to Yalimon’s side, shooting Ziva a stung look, and helped his partner up, dusting him off and giving him an affectionate hug. “You okay, buddy? Nevermind, we’ll get him next time, eh?”

“Yeah... I guess so...”

Had Yalimon’s eyes not been almost permanently obscured by his thick mane, then the others may have caught the sad, pained look in his eyes from the sacrifice made by the four Mojyamon, and that despite his efforts to aid Sastrugamon, the hunt was still on, having only been prolonged temporarily.

“Right, then.” Bao murmured, after everyone had taken a moment to get their minds back on work, “We follow the target back to his nest, and finish what we came out here to do.”

* * *

“What... happened here?”

The Resistance felt like they had just walked into the end of the world. Vehicles lay smashed into nearly unrecognizable shapes, street lamps, traffic lights and telephone poles were either bent out of shape, or smashed in two. The empty stores lining the streets were smashed, and a few had even been utterly smashed in, as if something big had ripped the front of the buildings off.

There were thankfully no people in the destroyed buildings they had passed, but each of the Resistance group, both human and digimon alike, shuddered to think what might have happened to any of the people that may have been inside, had they not escaped whatever did this...

Skye chanced to repeat herself, anything just to break the awful silence hanging over the entire street, which was desolate, like a ghost town.

“What could even do something like this...?”

“I... I don’t know... but I really don’t want to take any chances and find out...” Seth murmured. Skyler was still sore over earlier, and had not spoken to anyone, but now, he was choosing to walk that bit closer to the others.

“Where are Neon and Sayo...?” Skye asked, nervously. She wanted to know where their back-up was, in the event that whatever had caused this mess came back, and the answer that Seth gave was not one that pleased her.

“They... I got a message just now saying Amy sent them a distress signal...” Seth said. “They’ve gone to rescue her and her friend... they tried to take Medusamon on alone, and...”

Once the realization the Nogitsumon and Melmon were the last digimon left to get them through this nightmare dawned on them, they could finally hear the shuddering noise of heavy footsteps in the distance of something huge scouring the land for prey...

The infected Ikkakumon was not far from their position at all, and it would only be a matter of time before it picked up on their presence and came after them.

* * *

“Lady Medusamon! Lord Sastrugamon has returned!!”

Medusamon immediately sat up from her resting place. She had been lounging across a fancy, velveteen couch in the middle of a carpet and sofa store on the top floor of the mall, around a furniture and home decor section of building.

The remaining troops that had been resting up around her also stood to attention as the SnowAgumon hurried to escort her out to him.

At the southern entrance to the mall, Sastrugamon had just let the four shaking, sobbing SnowGoburimon off his back, encouraging them to join their friends and get rest, looking visibly shaken himself, having heard the awful cracks from Martemon’s bead whip end the lives of their Mojyamon comrades.

“Sastrugamon!” Medusamon cried, rushing over and flinging her arms around him. “I was so, so worried about you!”

“Only four survived...” he murmured sadly, lowering his head, resting it over her shoulder, “there was little we could do... we escaped thanks to none other than Alphynmon, though in his younger form, and under the control of... them...”

“Please, Sastrugamon... come through here with me and rest...” Signalling to Frigimon, her faithful lady-in-waiting smashed open the doors to a store selling beds and mattresses. Selecting out a suitable king-size bed, the mattress was removed and placed on the floor for Sastrugamon to settle on. “Now, start from the beginning, my love...”

But before Sastrugamon could recount to her what had happened, a second SnowAgumon arrived, panting and panic-stricken.

“What is it? What’s wrong?” the gorgon digimon snapped, “can’t you see I’m attending to my--”

“My Lady, this really can’t wait! One of the prisoners has escaped!!”

“I... what?” Medusamon gasped incredulously, staring in disbelief, as she reared herself up.

“I-It’s true, my Lady! We’ve searched the prisoner’s room, and the rabbit-- Manimon-- has vanished!”


End file.
